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THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 
 . MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
PORTUGAL AND THE CONGO: 
 
 A STATEMENT. 
 
 Prepared by the African Committee of the Lisbon 
 Geographical Society, 
 
 LUCIANO CORDEIRO, 
 
 Eecording Secretary. 
 
 WITH MAPS AND INTKODUCTIOK 
 
 EDWARD 
 
 onlion: 
 55, CHAEING CEOSS, S.W. 
 
 1883. 
 
^^^TcTEdmonds, 420, Brixton Boad, S.E. 
 
 
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 -sm Ki^ u f v ^Um^ 
 
 

 TO THE READER. 
 
 A Portuguese patriot and sincere admirer of English institu- 
 tions, surprised at the misapprehensions which exist in this 
 country with reference to the Portuguese rights on the Congo, 
 and pained by the unjust charges recklessly flung at his 
 countrymen in connection therewith, has determined to appeal 
 from England misled or uninformed, to England in full posses- 
 sion of the facts of the case. 
 
 He originally intended merely to place in the hands of his 
 English friends the translation of a " Statement " which had 
 been prepared by his friend L. Cordeiro, the Secretary of the 
 African Committee of the Lisbon Greographical Society. 
 
 But a literary friend whom he consulted in this matter 
 pointed out to him, that, although the " Statement " abounded 
 in information bearing more or less directly upon the question 
 in dispute, and furnished moreover many curious bits of recon- 
 dite information highly interesting to students of history or 
 geography, it yet failed to deal with the subject in a manner 
 sufficiently compact and direct to fix the attention of busy 
 
 . statesmen and men of business. 
 
 a2 
 
IV. 
 
 Acting on the advice of his friend, he caused an introductory 
 essay to be prefixed to the translation, and, moreover, added a 
 map on which the localities referred to in the text are to be 
 found. 
 
 He trusts that his contribution to this vexed question of the 
 Congo will be received in the spirit of amity in which it is 
 made, and be helpful in the restoration of full concord and good 
 feeling between two nations already closely knit together by 
 the bonds of commerce and of military association. 
 
 Portugal has always looked up to England as to her instructor 
 in the development of political institutions, consonant with the 
 enlightened and humanitarian spirit of the age. It would be 
 painful to her were she compelled to turn away from her 
 ancient friend and ally, smarting under a feeling of having been 
 dealt with harshly and unfairly in a question which so nearly 
 concerns her interests and her honour. 
 
 London, March 20, 1883. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 THE QUESTION OF THE CONGO. 
 
 By a Fellow of the Statistical Society and Hon. Member of the 
 Lisbo7t Geographical Society. 
 The settlement of this question urgent, p. 1. — Present state unsatisfactory, 
 p. 1. — No native king of real authority, p. 2. — Hence the call for European 
 jurisdiction, p. 2. — Portugal's claims paramount to all others, p. 2. — The King 
 of Congo a Portuguese vassal, p. 3. — Exercise of sovereign rights by Portugal on 
 the Congo, and to the north of it, p. 3. 
 
 Alleged inability of Portugal to assert her authority, p. 5. — Civilization in 
 Portuguese Africa a reality, p. 6. — Its evidences, p. 6. — Religious liberty, p. 7. 
 
 Free trade and the Colonial commercial policy of Portugal, p. 7. — The 
 proposed customs tariff, p. 8. —The suppression of the slave trade, p. 9. — 
 Conclusion, p. 10. 
 
 PORTUGAL AND THE CONGO. 
 
 A STATEMENT. 
 By the African Committee of the Lisbon Geograhical Society. 
 
 I.-THE CLAIMS OF PORTUGAL AND THE LAW OF NATIONS. 
 
 General principles, p, 11, — The Nootka Sound question, p. 11. — Russian claims 
 in Bering Sea, p. 12. — The Oregon dispute, p. 12. — The Falkland Islands, p. 12. 
 Bolama Island arbitration, p. 13. — Delagoa Bay arbitration, p. 13, — The 
 Principles of International Law as applied in these instances, with reference to 
 the Congo and Angola, p. 14. 
 
 II.— PORTUGAL'S RIGHTS AS A DISCOVERER. 
 Discovery of the west coast of Africa by the Portuguese, 1464 — 1484, p. 16.^ 
 Priority undoubted, p. 18. — First intercourse with the King of Congo, p. 20. — 
 Diogo Cam and the King of Sonyo, p. 20. — Sousa's embassy to the King of 
 Congo, 1491, p. 20. 
 
 Progress of exploration in the interior, p. 21. — A campaign against King 
 Makoko, p. 22. — Attempts to cross Africa, p. 23. — The Kingdom of Makoko, 
 p. 24. — Priority of discovery admitted in contemporaneous documents, p. 25. 
 
 HI.— PORTUGAL'S RIGHTS RESULTING FROM POSSESSION. 
 Early charters granted by the crown of Portugal, p. 28. — Monuments as tokens 
 of having taken possession of the country, p. 29. — The doctrine of international 
 law, p. 30.— Testimony of Distingu'shed AVriters, p. 35.— Development and 
 
Vi. CONTENTS. 
 
 consolidation of Portuguese dominion, p. 37. — Portugal and the Kingdom of 
 Congo, p. 38. — Political districts in Portuguese Africa, p. 40. — Commerce a 
 monopoly of the State, p. 42. — Educational efiects of Portugal, p. 46. 
 
 The invasion of the Congo hy foreign adventurers, p. 47.— Restoration of 
 Portugese authority, p. 48.- -Further extension of Portuguese rule, p. 49. — 
 Portuguese enterprize on the Congo, p. 61. — The extent of Portuguese dominion 
 in Africa as set forth in ofiQcial documents, p. 53. 
 
 Proposed occupation of the Congo in 1838, p. 54. — Exercise of Portuguese 
 jurisdiction on the Congo in 1839, p. 55. — Captain Tuckey's convention, 1839, 
 p. 56. — Re-assertion of Portuguese claims, 1843 and 1855, p. 56. 
 
 English opposition to the occupation of the Congo, p. 58.— The Occupation of 
 Amhriz, p. 59. — Kahinda, 1853-55, p. 60. — Ponta de Banana, 1853, p. 60. — 
 Malemba, 1854, p. 61. — Further acts of sovereignty on the Congo, 1855-57, 
 p. 62. — Recent events in the Kingdom of Congo and occupation of S. Salvador, 
 1869-82, p. 63. — Diogo Cam's Pillar, p. 65. — Portugal's protests against an 
 an infringment of her sovereign rights, p. 66. — The Portuguese delegates at the 
 Congress of Commercial Geography, Paris, 1878, p. 68. — Mr. Stanley and the 
 Lisbon Geographical Society, p. 69. 
 
 IV.— THE RIGHTS OF PORTUGAL AS DEFINED IN TREATIES. 
 
 Papal Bulls and the Treaty of Tordesillas, p. 70. — Tacit recognition of Portu- 
 guese sovereignty by other states, p. 72. — Recognition by France, 1531-38, p. 72. 
 —Recognition by England, 1501-1654, p. 73.— The Treaty of Paris, 1763, p. 76. 
 — The French at Kabinda and the Treaty of Madrid, 1786, p. 77. — Portugal and 
 the Slave Trade, p. 79. 
 
 The Treaty of Rio de Janeiro with England, 1810, p. 81.— The Treaty of 
 Vienna, 1815, p. 82.— The Convention of 1817, p. 83.— The Treaty of Lisbon, 
 1838, p. 84.— The Treaty of 1845 between England and France, p. 84. 
 
 Portugal's claims disputed by England, p. 87. — Lord Palmerston's note of 
 November 30th, 1846, p. 80.— Lord Clarendon's note of November 26th, 1853, 
 p. 90. — English arguments refuted, p. 91. 
 
 ' Unrestricted intercourse ' conceded by Portugal, p. 92. — The interpretation of 
 the Treaties of 1810, 1815 and 1817, p. 93.— Conclusion, p. 98. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Correspondence between the Secretary of the Lisbon Geographical Society 
 and the Secretary of the International African Association, p. 101. 
 
 MAPS OF THE CONGO. 
 
THE QUESTION OF THE CONGO. 
 
 By a Fellow of the Statistical Society, and Hon, Member of the Lisbon 
 Geographical Society, 
 
 To Portugal, and in a smaller degree to the whole of the 
 civilized world, this question of the Congo has become one of 
 considerable importance. Until Stanley brought home to us 
 the fact that, once past the rapids of its lower course, the 
 Congo,-'with its numerous tributaries, would render accessible a 
 vast portion of the African continent that river merely attracted 
 the attention of slave dealers and their pursuers, of a few 
 commercial firms engaged in more legitimate transactions, and 
 of geographers. But now that Stanley, acting as the agent of 
 an international association, has built a road past the cataracts, 
 and Lieutenant de Brazza, on behalf of France, claims possession 
 of a large tract of country alleged to have been effectively 
 ceded to him by King Makoko, this question has come to the 
 fore and urgently calls for a settlement. 
 
 The present state of these territories is unsatisfactory, and 
 that some acknowledged authority must be established in them, 
 now that traders and missionaries are likely to flock to the 
 Congo in greater numbers than hitherto, will be admitted by 
 all. Security of life and property must be obtained in places 
 where now anarchy prevails and might overcomes right. Courts 
 of justice must be established in order that cruelty and the 
 retaliatory outrages following in its train may be suppressed, 
 and agrieved parties be no longer obliged to appeal to 
 the Grovernor of Loanda, who lives hundreds of miles away, or 
 
to the captains of men-of-war which chance takes to their 
 neighbourhood.* 
 
 If there existed on the Congo a native king, willing to act on 
 the advice of the European powers and to enter into serious 
 treaty arrangements with them, and at the same time suffi- 
 ciently strong to make himself respected and obeyed, introduction 
 of European jurisdiction might be uncalled for. But the 
 territories of the Congo are divided among a large number of 
 small chiefs, some of w^hom acknowledge themselves to be the 
 vassals of Portugal, but none of whose " states" enjoys even the 
 rudiments of civilized organization. 
 
 Hence the necessity of placing this region under the dominion 
 of some European Grovernment! And whose claims to such 
 dominion are greater and more substantial than those of Por- 
 tugal ? Can it be seriously entertained to set these claims aside 
 in favour of Belgium or of France, or lurks there in the mind 
 of some English statesman an intention of appropriating the 
 Congo to some other purpose ? Belgium as a State disclaims any 
 intention of " acquiring an inch of ground on African soil,"t 
 whilst France has quite recently acknowledged without reserve 
 the justness of Portugal's claim to the coast south of lat. 5° 12' S, 
 
 If Portugal's claim to the Congo were based merely upon the 
 fact that Diogo Cam, in 1584, took possession of the river by 
 erecting a memorial pillar at its mouth, there might be just 
 grounds for questioning its legitimacy. Such, however, is not 
 the case. Portugal is undoubtedly the discoverer of this region, 
 but ever since its discovery she has proclaimed and exercised 
 
 * A fair insight into the manner in which the European factories carry on 
 trade on the Congo may be obtained from 0. van Sandick's Herinnerungen van 
 de Zuid-Westkust van Airika, Deventer, 1881. The aixthor was an employe 
 of the now defunct Dutch Trading Company. The frauds practised upon the 
 natives are not peculiar to the Congo, but it is interesting to learn on undoubted 
 authority that the Europeans established there buy and sell slaves, locally known 
 as Coromanos or Kroomen. The assertions made by the representatives of this 
 *' demoralised race of traders" (as Captain Burton calls them in "Two Trips 
 to Gorilla Land," vol. ii. p. 26) should be received with caution. 
 
 t See the letter of the Secretary of the International African Association, in 
 the Appendix. 
 
within it the sovereign rights to which she lays claim. She 
 has insisted upon these rights in diplomatic declarations and 
 legislative enactments, and sustained them by force of arms, as 
 in 1648-60, when she expelled the Dutch filibusters, who held 
 possession of the lower Congo. She has, moreover, secured the 
 recognition of these claims in treaties entered into with all the 
 leading powers, and notably with England and France.* 
 
 The Kings of Congo, whose territories extended at one time 
 far beyond the river which now bounds them on the north, 
 have been the vassals of the Crown of Portugal ever since 1491. 
 They owe such power as they possess to the prestige of their 
 liege lord, and the aid repeatedly extended to them by the 
 Portuguese. It was a Portuguese force which in 1570 freed 
 Congo from an invasion of the Yakkas, in acknowledgment for 
 which service the king ceded absolutely the coast extending 
 south of the Zaire to Loanda. And as recently as 1860 a Portu- 
 guese force marched on San Salvador, and under its sheltering 
 wing was crowned Don Pedro V., the king now reigning, whose 
 claims had been contested by a pretender. On this occasion 
 the king took the oath of allegiance to Portugal, as all his 
 predecessors had done since the 15th century. This kingdom 
 of Congo, therefore, is indubitably a fief of the Crown of 
 Portugal. 
 
 On the Congo itself, and in the territory to the north of it, 
 the claims of Portugal are quite as satisfactorily established. If 
 actual and uninterrupted " occupation " in the literal, not legal, 
 meaning of the word, be essential to a claim for dominion, then 
 Portugal has no such claim to the north of the Congo ever 
 since she abandoned her forts at Kabinda and Pinda. But we 
 maintain that such a claim is well founded if it be proved that 
 the native chiefs acknowledge Portugal as their sovereign 
 power, and that Portugal, at frequent intervals and for definite 
 purposes, has exercised her sovereign jurisdiction there without 
 
 * For particulars of these treaties see p. 70. 
 
her right to do so having ever been questioned. We pass over 
 the transactions of centuries now gone, particulars of which are 
 given in the accompanying Statement. That the chiefs of 
 Kabinda and Malemba acknowledge themselves to be the 
 vassals of Portugal, is a fact perfectly well established 
 and never seriously questioned.* It is a fact, too, that 
 Portugal over and over again exercised her authority on 
 the Lower Congo and to the north of it, for the benefit 
 of the European factories established there. A few recent 
 instances may be given. In 1853 certain disputes between 
 the merchants of Banana and the natives were inquired into 
 by the captain of a Portuguese man-of-war; the persons 
 deemed guilty were sent to Loanda for trial, and Europeans as 
 well as natives agreed that all future disputes between them 
 should be referred to the Grovernor of Angola. Two years later 
 the Portuguese were once more called upon to interfere, on 
 which occasion many of the native chiefs renewed their 
 allegiance. In 1857 an expedition was dispatched to punish the 
 Musorongos for certain acts of piracy, and in 1869 the natives 
 near Fetish Eock provoked a like interference. More decisive 
 still in determining Portugal's claim to dominion is the appeal 
 addressed by the Consuls of England and Holland to the^Grovernor 
 of Loanda, in 1876, which led to the dispatch of two men-of-war 
 to the Congo, where, in the absence of regular authorities, some 
 Europeans, in the alleged defence of their lives and property, 
 had taken the law into their own hands. Still more recently, 
 in September last, the captain of the " Duque de Terceira " 
 held a court of judicial inquiry at Landana, and he did this not 
 only with the consent, but actually on the invitation of all the 
 European merchants established there, among whom were 
 representatives of Messrs. Hatton & Cookson of Liverpool, and 
 of the new Dutch African Company. As a result, [two ^blacks 
 
 * The German expedition, to -which we owe so thorough an exploration of 
 certain parts of the coast districts to the north of the Congo, found such to be 
 the case. See, for instance, Bastiau's Die Deutsche Expedition, Jena, 1874, vol. i. 
 p. 213. 
 
accused of robbery were sent to Loanda to be tried. 
 Subsequently the Portuguese vessel proceded to Ponta negra, 
 forty men were landed, and condign punishment inflicted upon 
 some blacks who had robbed the Portuguese factories esta- 
 blished at that point. 
 
 All these were acts of undoubted sovereignty, and if no forts 
 have been built on the Congo, as was proposed to be 
 done in 1838, this was solely in deference to certain objections 
 raised by England, and by England only. But that the hold 
 which Portugal has upon the Congo, even in the absence of 
 forts, is a very powerful one, is, among others, proved by the fact 
 that out of 49 factories established there no less than 25 are 
 Portuguese, that in many of the other factories Portuguese 
 clerks are employed, and that in all Portuguese is the language 
 in which intercourse is held with the natives. 
 
 But although, after the facts stated by us, no person of 
 unbiassed judgment will refuse to admit that Portugal's claim 
 to the Lower Congo is a very strong one, there still remains to 
 be considered the question whether Portugal will be able, if 
 called upon, for the common benefit, to maintain order, to 
 protect merchants and missions in their lawful enterprises, and 
 suppress the slave trade. This would have to be denied if 
 there were any foundation for the sweeping assertions made in 
 a petition recently addressed by the African Association of 
 Liverpool to the House of Commons. It is there maintained 
 that though for centuries Portugal has held over 1,800 miles of 
 the coast of Africa, " neither trade nor civilization has made any 
 " marked or substantial progress," and the petitioners prophesy 
 that the extension of Portuguese jurisdiction over the territories 
 in question would inevitably result in the total destruction of 
 British trade and the complete stoppage of progress and civili- 
 zation in this part of the world. 
 
 These are serious charges, and it is well worthwhile to devote 
 a few lines to their examination. It may at once be conceded 
 that civilization has not made that progress in Portuguese 
 
6 
 
 Africa whicli philanthropists could have desired. But we may 
 fairly ask, have other European nations been much more 
 successful in their colonies, similarly circumstanced. It would 
 be absurd to compare Angola with Canada or Australia, or even 
 with the Cape Colony. But is Sierra Leone, that pet colony upon 
 which so much thought and money have been expended, quite 
 the success it was expected to turn out? Are the results 
 obtained on the gold coast so very much superior to what has 
 been achieved in Angola, or have the French much to boast 
 of on the Gaboon ? Is Captain Burton misleading his readers 
 when he says with reference to Loanda* that "for the first 
 " time after leaving Teneriffe, I saw something like a city," and 
 that " society in Angola is not a whit inferior to that of any 
 " English colony in western Africa " ? 
 
 Here, at all events, there appear to be present some of those 
 outward signs of that civilization which the Liverpool traders 
 deny to exist. Such signs may moreover be discovered in the 
 existence of an observatory at Loanda (the only one in tropical 
 Africa), in the numerous schools, including one of Art and 
 Science, only recently established, and the wide extension of a 
 knowledge of reading and writing among the natives who have 
 attended them. Signs of civilization and progress are likewise 
 evidenced in the steamers which navigate the lower Kuanza, in 
 the telegraphic wires which connect Loanda with the interior, 
 and in the surveys which have been made for railways. These, 
 we maintain, are substantial proofs of the progress of civilization. 
 We may add to them the existence of institutions for local 
 government, on a plan far more liberal than is to be found in 
 any of our own crown colonies, and the administration of humane 
 laws (which know no death penalty) by judges entirely inde- 
 pendent of the political authorities. The laws now in force 
 enable foreigners to acquire land on easy terms and to work the 
 mines, and they grant, what in the eyes of many is more 
 
 * Two Trips to Gorilla Land, i. pp. 21, 24. 
 
important still, the most perfect religious liberty. That such 
 is the case is sometimes doubted by those whose knowledge of 
 Portuguese affairs is based on obsolete information, and who 
 are unaware of the vast strides which that little kingdom has in 
 recent years made on the path of true liberty. When Senhor 
 Ferreira de Amaral, the present Grovernor of Angola, had an 
 interview with the Boers, who have recently established them- 
 selves in the district of Huilla, he said, in reply to their 
 questions, that they might freely worship as Protestants, for 
 religious toleration was not only guaranteed by the laws of 
 Portugal, but was also consonant with Portuguese ideas, and 
 that the recent introduction of civil registers made them 
 perfectly independent of the clergy of the Koman Catholic 
 Church. 
 
 But Angola not only enjoys many blessings of civilization, it is a 
 progressive country too. True it is that in former times the slave 
 trade was a source of much wealth to individuals, and laid the 
 foundation of many a colossal fortune (just as it did at Liverpool), 
 and that since its suppression the colony has passed through a 
 serious crisis. But Angola has quite recovered from this blow; 
 the development of her natural resources has called into life a 
 legitimate commerce of considerable value, and this commerce 
 is bound to grow, in proportion as the barriers erected in a time 
 of narrow-minded political economy shall be removed. The 
 imports and exports, which between 1823-32 only amounted to 
 £350,437, rose in 1867-8 to £504,000, and reached in 1876 the 
 respectable figure of £976,550. And this increasing prosperity 
 is fairly reflected in an increasing revenue, which in 1876 
 amounted to £125,929, whilst in 1818, with the slave trade still 
 flourishing and a duty of 38s. exacted on each slave exported, 
 it fell short of £40,000. 
 
 The Portuguese Grovemment is quite alive to the fact that 
 this growth is entirely due to the removal of restrictions, the 
 admission of foreign vessels since 1846, and a more liberal 
 commercial policy. There is no call, therefore, to force it 
 
along a path which a consideration of its own interests makes it 
 only too willing to take of its own accord. It is quite true that 
 the tariff of Angola proper still knows differential duties, and 
 that vexatious formalities are exacted at Portuguese custom- 
 houses. But all these grievances and abuses tend to disappear 
 under the influence of the enlightened views which now govern 
 the destinies of Portugal. At Ambriz the imports pay a 
 imiform duty of 4 per cent, ad valorem, whilst the exports are 
 altogether free; and the tariff spontaneously introduced in 
 1877, in Mozambique, is far more liberal than the tariffs 
 existing in most of our colonies.* All vessels, without dis- 
 tinction of nationality, are freely admitted to the ports without 
 the payment of shipping dues. The customs formalities have 
 been reduced to the simplest proportions, and warehouse-room 
 is granted free of charge for six months. It is idle to suppose 
 that the introduction of a similar regime on the Congo, joined 
 to the abolition of all preferential duties, could possibly destroy 
 legitimate British trade. 
 
 It may indeed become necessary to impose duties or taxes, 
 in order to defray the cost of local administration. But the 
 Portuguese Grovernment has declared over and over again, that 
 it is not intended to introduce regulations in restraint of 
 
 * The following is an abstract of the Mozambique tariff of 1877 : — 
 
 Import _Z)?<^i^s.— Cotton stuffs, 2-4d. a pound; cotton prints, 4-3d. a pound ; 
 mnslins, lace, woollen stuffs, silks, and linen, 10 p. c. ad valorem ; glass ware, 
 l'3d. a pound ; copper, lead, &c., is. 4d. a cwt. (iron free) ; guns and revolvers, 
 6s. 8d. each; pistols, 2s. 3d. each; mattocks, 3-2d. each (all other articles 
 made of iron are free) ; articles made of copper, lead, &c., 6 p. c. ad valorem ; 
 ships, 4-0 p. c. ; powder, 2:^d. a pound; spirits Is. lOd., beer, 5d. wine, 9^ 
 a gallon; tobacco and cigars, 5-5 to Is. 4d. a pound; sugar 7s. a cwt.; 
 molasses, lid. a gallon; tea 4'ld. a pound; butter, 4*3d. a pound, ; olive oil, 
 5d. a gallon. 
 
 Export Duties : — Ground nuts, oil-yielding seeds, orchilla, 1 p. c. ad valorem ; 
 gums, hides and skins, 2 p. c. ; rubber, wax and cowrie-shell, 4 p. c. ; ivory, 6 p. c. 
 
 Transit Duties :— On articles included in tariff", 3 p. c. 
 
 All other articles, including iron and most articles made of iron, coal, books 
 and paper, yarns, soap, s;ilt, provisions, corn, coffee, cocoa, fish, &c., on all 
 of which nearly ail our colonies levy heavy duties, are free. 
 
legitimate trade, or to raise a revenue beyond what may be 
 strictly necessary to meet the cost of occupation. The burdens 
 so imposed upon European merchants (the vast majority of 
 whom are Portuguese) will therefore be light, and they will 
 in the end entail a positive advantage by ensuring order and 
 security where lawlessness is now rampant, and where, in his 
 frequent disj)utes with native chiefs, the white man is always 
 called upon to " pay the piper," as Sandick has it. 
 
 As to slavery and the slave trade, it may boldly be asserted 
 that they have no existence now, wherever a locality is under 
 the direct administration of the Portuguese authorities, 
 although they still maintain their ground in districts ruled by 
 native chiefs, and in the European factories on the Lower Congo. 
 
 In this question of slavery little Portugal has acted her part 
 nobly and unflinchingly, and has more than fulfilled every 
 international engagement entered into. The memory of that 
 great and noble statesman, Sa de Bandeira, will for ever be 
 associated with the measures taken by Portugal for the removal 
 of that blot from her escutcheon. It was he who caused in 1836 
 a decree to be published, which prohibited the export of slaves 
 from Portuguese colonies ; it was under his auspices that the 
 treaty for the more effective suppression of the slave trade was 
 concluded with England in 1842; and it was he again who in 
 1854 initiated the measures for the total abolition of slavery 
 throughout all Portuguese colonies. In that very year the 
 slaves belonging to Grovernment were set free, and the same 
 measure was extended in 1856 to the slaves belonging to 
 municipal corporations, charitable institutions and churches. 
 In 1876 there existed not in any of the Portuguese colonies 
 a single slave! What Portugal has succeeded in accom- 
 plishing^ at Loanda, Ambriz, Ambaca, and at other places 
 under her immediate control, she will of a certainty also 
 accomplish on the Congo, as soon as her authorities shall have 
 been permanently installed there, and it is perhaps this 
 prospect which has led to the outcry of certain European firms 
 
10 
 
 established Jthere,'"inany if not all of wliom are buyers and 
 sellers of slaves and employers of slave-labour.* 
 
 We believe that the facts presented by us amply prove not 
 only that Portugal's claim of dominion on the Lower Congo is 
 well founded, but also that Portugal, inspired as she is now by 
 the progressive ideas of the time, will be able to assert her 
 authority there and exercise her trust to the benefit of commerce 
 and civilisation. There can be no doubt that an international 
 court of arbitration would decide this question in favour of 
 Portugal, just as similar courts have before this acknowledged 
 her just claims to Delagoa Bay and Bolama island. 
 
 We trust, however, that no such appeal will be needed, and 
 that England, guided by that spirit of justice and fair play 
 which she claims as governing her policy, will permit Portugal 
 to enter into full possession of the territories which law and 
 equity alike entitle her to. 
 
 * At Ambriz there existed up to 1855 a state of affairs very similar to that 
 still prevailing on the Congo. In the year named Portugal occupied that place, 
 and not only the slave-trade, formerly rampant there, but also lawlessness, has 
 ceased, and given place to order and legitimate commerce. 
 
PORTUGAL AND THE CONGO, 
 
 A STATEMENT 
 
 I—THE CLAIMS OF PORTUGAL AND THE LAW OF 
 
 NATIONS. 
 
 The sovereignty of a civilized state over tlie territories that 
 are its declared possessions, or which form an extension or 
 integral part of it, are based, in accordance with international 
 right, on certain well defined conditions. Foremost among 
 these, as fundamental and necessary alike from the point of 
 view of right, of tradition, and of the mutual respect 
 of peoples, must be placed the following : — 
 
 1st, Discovery — by priority and nationality. 
 
 2nd, Possession — initiated (animo dominii) and sus- 
 tained. 
 
 3rd, Recognition — implied and expressed. 
 Such are the principles invoked and sanctioned by those 
 states which in our days have maintained and decided questions 
 of international right, and upon such titles is now and ever 
 has been based the exercise of sovereignty by civilized nations 
 over their territories, whether uninhabited, peopled by savages, 
 or colonized from the mother country. 
 
 When in 1789, Spain asserted against England her claim to 
 the exclusive sovereignty of a portion of the North West coast 
 of America, in the " Nootka Sound dispute," she rested her case 
 on priority of discovery, sustained possession, and recognition 
 by treaty. 
 
12 
 
 In 1821, Eussia proclaimed her exclusive sovereignty over 
 the American coast and inland sea from Bering's straits to 
 .04° of latitude, over the Aleutian Archipelago, the eastern coast 
 of Siberia and the Kurile Islands, from the South Cape to lat. 
 ol° 54' north. She based her claims on priority of discovery 
 and on possession during half a century. 
 
 The United States disputed these claims, urging amongst 
 other grounds of objection the absence of any territorial 
 jurisdiction exercised by a civilized state over part of this region. 
 It was alleged besides, that Kussian discovery had not extended 
 beyond the 55th parallel. Is there not here a distinct avowal 
 that the rights claimed proceed from the exercise of jurisdiction 
 and from priority of discovery ? And indeed the United States 
 in this case candidly admitted that they had no right to 
 establish any posts to the north of lat. 54° 40'. 
 
 Some years later the United States preferred against England 
 a claim to the dominion of Oregon, on the grounds of priority 
 of discovery, priority of possession, the acquisition by treaty of 
 the rights proper to Spain, and the implicit recognition of 
 England, as evinced in the rendition of Fort Greorge at the 
 mouth of the Columbia Eiver. It was maintained on the other 
 hand by England, that the honour of prior discovery belonged 
 of right to her, and that moreover, there had been on the 
 occasion of the cession of the fort, an understood reservation by 
 the Enghsh G-overnment of its sovereign rights over the disputed 
 territory. 
 
 In 1744 the intention of England to colonize the Falkland 
 Islands was abandoned in view of the protests of Spain, based 
 on the rights of discovery and possession ; and this was done, 
 although the first of these contentions has not to this day been 
 regarded as proved, and the second had not to that time been 
 manifested by any overt act of authority. The islands in 
 question were occupied by France in 1764, but were shortly 
 afterwards restored to Spain, who again put forward her claim 
 in right of priority of discovery as well as of the geographical 
 
13 
 
 position of the Archipelago, which marked it out as clearly 
 dependent on the Spanish possessions on the American con- 
 tinent. 
 
 Occupied subsequently by the English, the islands were 
 abandoned by them in 1774, Spain maintaining and reserving 
 her rights of territorial sovereignty, which reverted later on to 
 the Argentine Kepublic. 
 
 In 1833, England again, by force of arms, took possession of 
 the Archipelago, grounding her action on the right of initial 
 possession, while the South American Kepublic put forward in 
 favour of its claims priority of possession, priority of occupation, 
 possession established and exercised, tacit and explicit recogni- 
 tion, and the acquisition by treaty of those titles which had 
 belonged to Spain. 
 
 Now in the particular case with which we are concerned it 
 may be observed that the arguments put forward by each of the 
 above nations may be used in support of our cause, that is to 
 say the ah initio right on which the English claimed to retain 
 the islands, and the reasons urged by the Kepublic as a ground 
 for their restoration. 
 
 In 1870 the United States of America decided in favour of 
 Portugal the dispute between that country and England relative 
 to the island of Bolama. The Portuguese protest against the 
 English occupation was based on priority of discovery, priority 
 of possession, and recognition. 
 
 Equally in favour of Portugal was decided the arbitration 
 with England respecting Delagoa Bay. The award of France, 
 dated the 24th July 1875, was based on priority of discovery, 
 claims of sovereign rights, recognition, geographical position in 
 relation to the Portuguese dominion, and priority of initiation 
 and possession. 
 
 We considered it necessary to cite these facts because, as 
 Heffter"^ declares, European public right is made up of conven- 
 tional laws, which are either to be found in public treaties, or 
 
 * Das Europaieche Voelkerrecht, Gtlied., 1873. 
 
14 
 
 which are recognized by ,the uniform declarations, or by the 
 invariable and constant usage of European Nations and their 
 Grovernments, or which filter down from the institutions, from 
 the civilization and from the manners of these nations. For, be 
 it said, nothing which is contrary to morality should be held as 
 admissible by these Grovernments : jus gentium oritur ex pactis 
 tacitis et praesumptis, quse ratio et usus inducant. 
 
 But while these facts, as well as numbers of analogous ones 
 which it would be equally easy to cite, determine in a uniform 
 and consistent manner the jurisprudence in force, and the in- 
 variable usage of these nations, it would be no less easy to de- 
 monstrate that the reasons which have been employed to sustain 
 the above-mentioned allegations and judgments emanate 
 naturally from the ethical princij^les and historical traditions of 
 all public right. 
 
 We will now proceed to show that every one of these reasons, 
 as well as many others that might thereto be added, serve to 
 define and give force to the rights of Portuguese sovereignty 
 over the Congo and the coast to the north of that river, as far, at 
 least, as lat. 5^12' south. As to the eastern or inland boundary, 
 it jet remains to be determined in accordance with those 
 principles which govern the actions of a civilized State exercis- 
 ing sovereignty under conditions such as actually obtain in these 
 regions. 
 
 Not alone have the Portuguese been the first people of 
 modem Europe who have navigated the African seas, and dis- 
 covered the islands, coasts and ports of this part of the world, 
 from Cape Mogador to the Ked Sea ; but they were the first 
 to introduce in these districts commerce and Christian 
 civilization, by the establishment of factories and European 
 colonies, and by subjecting to their dominion the native chiefs 
 and peoples, and penetrating into the interior. 
 
 Nor is it alone that we possess the right conferred by priority 
 of discovery and by possession, firmly established in some 
 of these regions, sustained during many centuries in others, 
 
15 
 
 and still maintained in a judicial and effective manner, from 
 lat. 5^* 12' to lat. IS'* south; but we can add to these titles 
 the implied and expressed recognition of civilized nations and 
 of native tribes and rulers, given in some cases by tacit con- 
 sent, and in others by spontaneous demonstrations and posi- 
 tive agreements. We will proceed to prove this as regards 
 that portion of our province of Angola which comprises the 
 ancient kingdom of Congo, traversed by the river of the same 
 name, and politically bounded on the side next the sea by the 
 5^ 12' parallel of south latitude. 
 
16 
 
 II.— PORTUCxAL AS A DISCOVEREE. 
 
 Discovery of the West Coast of Africa by the Portuguese, 
 1464—1487. 
 
 AYe have no hesitation in repeating, in the face of honest, 
 serious criticism, that the title to priority of discovery of the 
 African coast and interior belongs, beyond doubt and without 
 question, to the Portuguese, and forms part of the history of 
 their sovereignty. Numerous facts might be adduced in support 
 of this contention ; we shall content ourselves, however, with 
 briefly stating a few of the principal ones. 
 
 To begin with, so far back as the year 1464 the Portuguese 
 navigators had already passed to the south of the Equator, 
 Joao de Sequeira having discovered Cape St. Catherine, in 
 latitude 1« 52' S. * 
 
 In. pursuance of its design to discover and explore the great 
 African continent the Portuguese Grovemment despatched 
 successive expeditions into these seas, with a view to a 
 systematic examination of the coast line and to the acquisition 
 of territory as well as the establishment of commercial relations 
 with the natives. These projects were to be effected either by 
 official navigators or by ^^rivate adventurers, to whom, in accord- 
 ance with the ideas and custom of the time, were granted 
 privileges in the newly discovered countries. 
 
 Thus in 1469 a contract was made at Lisbon with Femao 
 Gomes, granting to him the right of commercial exploration, 
 
 * Duarte Pacheco: Esmeraldo de sitio orbis, 1505. (MS. in Bibl. Kac.) 
 Santarem : Demonstr. 1855. — Caslilho: Desciip. e rot. 186V. 
 
17 
 
 (or, in the language of those days, resr/ate, ransom) from Sierra 
 Leone in the direction of the South. In return he gave an en- 
 gagement to discover annually, eitlier by himself or his cap- 
 tains, 100 leagues of the coast, or a total of 500 leagues at' the 
 end of five years from the date of the concession. No opposi- 
 tion or protest was raised against this measure, which clearly 
 proves that it was regarded as quite legitimate and in accord- 
 ance with the rights and ideas of that ej)och.* 
 
 It is evident that the conditions of this contract did not 
 necessarily imply that all Africa to the South of Sierra Leone 
 remained to be discovered ; the idea was to have the territories 
 along the coast more minutely explored and surveyed, so that 
 they might be so laid down on the charts as to satisfy the wants 
 of commerce and of colonisation. 
 
 But although, as we have said, the Portuguese navigators 
 had already at this period passed to the south of the Equator, 
 Alvaro Fernandesf having previously, in 1447, discovered 
 Sierra Leone, the exploits of our mariners did not end here. 
 It is certain that in 1462, Soeira da Costa and Pedro de Cintra 
 had sailed far beyond this point, and had doubled successively 
 Cape Ledo, Alegre or Sierra Leone (8° 30' N.) and the capes of 
 Saint Anna (7^ 34' 26"), of Monte (6° 44') and Cortez or 
 Mesurado (6^ 19' 15"), reconoitring all the intermediate coast.f 
 
 Femao Gomes' contract was brilliantly carried out by his 
 captains, and the privilege which had been granted to the 
 bold Lisbon shipowner was, by royal edict of the 1st June, 
 1473, extended for a year.§ 
 
 In 1469 Lopo Gonsalves bestowed his name on the Cape 
 which to this day preserves his memory, although it has been 
 corrupted into Cape Lopez, lat. 0^ 36' 10" S. In 1470 Soiera 
 da Costa gave his surname to the river known in modern charts 
 
 * Arch. Nac. ; Chanc. de D. Aff. V., 1. 33 (A. da Silveira : Mem. Chr. in Ann? 
 Mar. e. Col. 1845). — Barros: Asia, 1552. 
 
 t Azurara: Chro., ed. 1841. — Lopes Lima. Ens. estad. I. 
 
 J Barros: Asia, 1552. — Galvao ; Tract. 15G3. — H. Yincentino ; re monda 
 nuovo, 1507. 
 
 § Arch. Nac : Ch. de D. Aff. V. Silveira, in Ann. Mar. e. Col. 1845.) 
 
18 
 
 as the Costa, or Cfreat Bassam, lat. 5® 12' N. During the 
 course of this or of the following year Joao de Santarem and 
 Pedro de Escobar completed the exploration of the entire 
 Gold Coast, and commenced to examine that of Benin. This, 
 as well as that of Calabar, was finally explored with great 
 success in 1486 by Joao Affonso d'Aveiro.* It was perhaps 
 this mariner who gave to the estuary of the Mpongwe, between 
 Cape Santa Clara (now Joinville) and Cape Barca (now Pongara 
 Point) the Portuguese name of Grabao, which is found marked 
 on the earliest charts of this coasf, and which seems to be 
 derived, according to Duaite Lopesf from the resemblance of 
 its shape to that of a garment of the same name much worn in 
 Portugal, above all in the district of Aviero. 
 
 No sooner had Cape Lopes been passed than other mariners 
 discovered the river of Fernao Vaz (in lat. I'' 51' S.), and 
 doubling Cape St. Catherine sailed past the river Pedro Dias 
 (now the Sette, 2° 21' 30"), point Fernao Gomes or das Pedras 
 (lat. 2° 42';, Cabo primeiro (the first Cape), or Mayumba 
 (3^ 15'), the roadstead of Alvaro Martins (3° 22' 30"), the 
 Cabo segundo, or Banda Cape (3° ^^' 30") ; the Angra do Indio, 
 or Bay of Chiloanga (4° 16' 30") ; the Golpho do Judeu or Bay of 
 Xroango, and the Gulf of Almadias or Bay of Kabinda.J 
 
 All these designations, Portuguese like so many others, are 
 the earliest which present themselves, and indubitably attest, even 
 on the oldest charts, the Portuguese claims to priority of dis- 
 covery and continuity of exploration along this coast. To 
 Portugal belongs the credit of having revealed to Europe regions 
 which to that time had been absolutely unknown : " nunca 
 d' antes navegadas " (that no keel had ever ploughed), as Camoens 
 has it; or, in the words used by King Alfonso V. in a 
 remarkable document: "utterly unknown to the men of our 
 ^' days and to those who have gone before us."§ 
 
 * Barros: Asia.— Galvao : Tract. 1563.— Castilho : Descrip. e roteiro, 1867. 
 t Reame de Congo, 1591 (English translation by Mrs. Hutchinson, 1881.) 
 X Santarem: Priorite, &c., and Atlas. — Castilho, 1. cit. 
 § Arch. Nac. Chro. de D. Aff. V. 
 
19 
 
 At last one of the explorers, Diogo Cam, expressly commis- 
 sioned by royal edict of the 14th April, 1484, to discover new 
 territories, entered the Congo, and in 1486, raised three monu- 
 ments to commemorate his discovery and as a mark of 
 sovereignty, to use the expression of Joao de Barros, "as 
 " if he had taken possession in the name of the king of all the 
 " coast which he had left behind him." The first of these Conga 
 m-onuments, raised at the Ponta do Padriio, was destroyed by 
 the Dutch in the 1 7th century, and re-erected by order of the 
 Portuguese Government in 1858.* The second was set up at 
 Cape Santa Maria (IS"" 27'') and the third at Cape Negro 
 (15°40/)t 
 
 Finally in 1487, Bartholomeu Dias de Novaes discovered the 
 rest of the western coast, doubled the Cape of Good Hope and 
 opened the route to the Indies.J 
 
 It was only then that cartographers were able to lay down, 
 correctly the outline of Africa, the " vera forma modernse 
 Affricse,-' to use the words of a very remarkable sailing 
 Directory of the period. 
 
 We may remark in passing that these discoveries were 
 followed up by a careful exploration in the modem sense. Nor 
 did any subsequent discoveries in other quarters of the world 
 ever cause the Portuguese Government to forget or abandon 
 its first possessions on the western side of the blacky [continent. 
 In proof of this we may here cite an extremely interesting 
 document, the " Kegimento," that is, the instructions given 
 on the 16th of February, 1520, to Manoel Pacheco and 
 Balthasar de Castro, who were sent to explore the kingdom of 
 Angola, and the adjoining territories as far as the Cape of Good 
 Hope. § 
 
 * It has since been swept away by an unusally high tide. — Translator. 
 
 t Euy de Pina : Chro. del Eel D. Joao II. ed. 1792.— Quintella, Lopes Lima, 
 ISautarem, Castilho, &c. 
 
 X Arch. Kac : Chanc. de D. Joao I. Liv. das Portarias, SO.—Silveira in Ann. 
 Mar. e Col. 1845. 
 
 § Arch. Nac. Eeg. de D. Manuel.— Arch, dos A9ore8, vol. iii. 
 
20 
 
 First Intercourse with the King of Congo, 
 
 In his two voyages to the Congo, Diogo Cam had established 
 relations with the King of Sonyo, relations which were soon 
 extended to the Muene (mani) Congo, or King of Congo, This 
 powerful ruler exercised dominion either directly, or as a 
 suzerain, over a region which extended along the coast from 
 Loango inclusive to Cape Xegro, and included in the interior 
 the territories of the Makoko. * 
 
 On the 29th March, 1491, a large Portuguese expedition, 
 •under the command of Euy de Sousa, who had during the 
 voyage taken the place of the commander-in-chief and principal 
 ambassador, Gonpalo de Sousa, disembarked on the southern 
 bank of the Congo. This expedition, which was composed 
 of missionaries, workmen, and agriculturists, had set sail from 
 Lisbon on the 19th December, 1490, having been expressly 
 formed and sent out by the Government of Portugal in response 
 to the declared desires of the native kings. Its object was to 
 initiate in a definite manner the propagation of the faith and 
 the exploration of the Portuguese possessions, which, in accord- 
 ance with the international practice of the period, were, in 
 these new regions as in others, closed against foreigners. 
 Having, to the great satisfaction of the natives, and in com- 
 pliance with the request of the Muene Congo himself, 
 commenced a march on the interior, the expedition entered the 
 royal M'bazi or Banza, now called San Salvador.f 
 
 Thus after having thrown open to science and to christian 
 civilization the whole of the great coast line of Africa to the 
 Congo and to the southward thereof, after having made known 
 the existence and the navigability of the lower course of the 
 might}^ river, we lost no time in commencing the difficult but 
 glorious task of exploring the interior of Equatorial Africa. 
 The other civilized nations, who centuries later laboured in the 
 
 * Cordeiro, 'Da Mina as Cabo Negro* and 'Estab. e resgates ' in Mem. do 
 Ultramar. 
 
 t Eesende : Livro das oLras, 1545. See also Barros, Pina, Faria, L. Lima, <S:c. 
 
21 
 
 same field, were able to do so, protected by the prestige of our 
 name, and they profited by the information that we had 
 gathered. 
 
 This is a point which should on no account be lost sight of. 
 
 Progress of the Exploration of the Interior, 
 
 The discovery and exploration of the interior was carried on 
 coincidently with that of the coast line, not by a mere incidental 
 correlation of trade, nor by circumstances due to the chances of 
 maritime discovery, but by means of the steady and laborious 
 efforts of the Portuguese Government, animated as it was by 
 the desire to know the country, to penetrate into it, and to 
 bring it under the sway of commerce, of the Gospel, and of the 
 National dominion. 
 
 It would be needless to sj)ecify the enterprises initiated in 
 this direction, notably by the Infante Don Henrique and by King 
 Don Joao II. 
 
 In the roll of history may be found the names of Joao 
 Fernandes, of Pero de Evora, of Gonsalo Eannes, of Joao Eod- 
 rigues, of Eodrigo Eebello, of Eodrigo Eeinel, and of many 
 others, distinguished as being the first explorers who trusted 
 themselves to the unknown interior of Western Africa. 
 
 All information procurable by the natives was eagerly col- 
 lected ; bold and trustworthy explorers were dispatched on all 
 sides ; a convict station was established, and natives who had 
 received religious and other instruction at Lisbon were from 
 time to time restored to their own country. These last had 
 been specially trained, in the hope that by their intercourse 
 with their fellow countrymen they might awaken in the 
 breasts of the savages a desire to establish relations with the 
 Portuguese. 
 
 The Missionaries were particularly instructed to go inland 
 with as little delay as possible, and explore the countries of the 
 interior ; with this view the Government, in the language of a 
 contemporary historian, made choice very often of men well 
 versed in mathematics. 
 
'I'i. 
 
 The heroic idea of opening up across the African continent a 
 direct route to India had already struck root, and during long 
 years persistent efforts were made to bring it to fruition. It 
 seemed for centuries as if Fate had destined us to carry from 
 one sea to the other our banner and our name. 
 
 We assert nothing without foundation ; everything which is 
 herein stated may be found written and affirmed in a multitude 
 of documents of various kinds, most of which are well known, 
 and whereof several have been translated into different European 
 languages.* 
 
 A Cmnjpaign against Makoko. 
 
 The expedition of Ruy de Sousa had likewise received 
 instructions to penetrate the African interior, and we may here 
 mention a circumstance which afforded to it an opportunity of 
 doing so. We allude to the campaign undertaken soon after 
 the arrival of the expedition by the powerful King of Congo, 
 ^jinga-a-kuum, who had been converted and baptized as a 
 namesake of the King of Portugal, Don Joao. This campaign 
 had for its object the punishment of certain revolted tribes of 
 the Upper Ck)ngo, who lived in the islands and on the banks of 
 the " lake from which flows the great river," as say the 
 historians of the 1 6th century, by whom these tribes are 
 called Mundequetes or Anzicos, identical no doubt with the 
 Bateke, or the people of Makoko, above Stanley Pool. 
 
 This was the first time that the Christian and Portuguese 
 flag, which had been bestowed on the Congo monarch by Joao 11. 
 was carried by force of arms into the wilds of Equatorial Africa. 
 A Portuguese detachment took part in the campaign, from 
 which dates the discovery of the tribes ruled by Makoko, and 
 described in 1505 by Duarte Pachecof, and more fully, before 
 
 *F. L. de Sousa, Hist, de S. Dom., 1632. Cordeiro, L'Hydrog. 
 Africaine, 1878. The well known works of Barros, Pina, Eesende, Santarem, 
 Lima, and others. 
 
 fEsmeraldode situ oi'bis (MS., Libraries of Lisbon and Evora). Book IIL, 
 ca. 2, treats "of the Kingdom of Congo and the country of the Anzicos.'* 
 
23 
 
 the end of the century, by Duarte Lopes.* The latter writer, 
 in speaking of these peoples, comments on the confidence 
 reposed by them in the Portuguese, who in the time of Garcia 
 Mendes Castello-Branco had, as that writer points out, esta- 
 blished a regular trade with Makoko. This statement is 
 corroborated by the reports of missionaries.f 
 
 According to Barros (1552) Kuy de Sousa, when about to 
 leave the Congo after this campaign, strongly counselled the 
 Portuguese who remained to attempt to pass " beyond the lake,'* 
 i.e. Stanley Pool, our acquaintance with which, it is thus made 
 evident, is contemporary with the expedition of 1491. 
 
 Attempts to cross Africa. 
 
 In 1521 King Don Manoel despatched Grregorio de Quadra 
 to the Congo, with instructions to attempt to cross the continent 
 into Abyssinia, and in 1526 and 1537 the two Portuguese 
 previously jnentioned, Balthazar de Castro and Manuel Pacheco, 
 placed before the Lisbon Government projects for the explora- 
 tion of the upper course of the same river. One of them 
 asserted that above the cataracts it presented a navigable high- 
 way into the interior. J 
 
 On the 15th March, 1546, Joao III. wrote to the Portuguese 
 resident in Abyssinia recommending them to make an attempt 
 to discover and explore the route between that country and the 
 Congo. He at the same time directed the Governor of India 
 to furnish them with instruments for the purpose of taking 
 astronomical observations, and to give them instructions as to 
 the mode of determining the various points of their journey, 
 and of carrying on the work of this remarkable exploration. 
 
 * Pigafetta, Kingdom'of Congo. 
 
 fArch. da Ajuda: Codicep. — L. Cordeiro: Da Mina as Cabo Negro in. 
 Memorias do Ultramar. 
 
 JDamiao de Goes : Chr. de Don Manuel, 1566. — L. Cordeiro : L'hydr. afr. 
 
24 
 
 In 1592, Domingos de Abreu de Brito drew up a plan 
 showing how a safe line of communication could be established 
 between the two sides of Africa, and proposed with that object 
 the formation of a chain of military posts for the protection of 
 commerce. 
 
 In 1606, the valiant Captain Balthasar Eebello de Aragao 
 undertook to cross the continent, and succeeded in penetrating 
 140 leagues from the coast of Angola. 
 
 Antonio de Oliveira de Cardomega, who explored the province 
 from 1639 to 1669, indicates the relations of Portugal with 
 the upper Congo. 
 
 In 1667 Manuel Grodinhojin relating his voyage from India to 
 Lisbon across Asia, mentions the Angola route amongst those that 
 may be taken coming from India to Portugal. He speaks of this: 
 line as one not entirely unknown, and hopes, in view of informa- 
 tion already to hand, to see it adopted. Garcia de Orta had 
 already, in 1563, spoken of it as having been traversed by a 
 missionary. Before the end of the 17th century Jose da Kosa 
 had set out from Massangano to attempt the passage. 
 
 The Kingdom of MaJcoko, 
 
 Garcia Mendes Castello-Branco, one of the first conquerors of 
 Angola, not only, as we have already remarked, affirms that the 
 Portuguese frequented what he calls the kingdom of Makoko ; 
 but he asserts that they traded also with the country of Ybare 
 (which is beyond all doubt the " Ibari " of Stanley), and with 
 the Basongos.* 
 
 From 1622 to 1624 five Portuguese were made prisoners in 
 the territory of Makoko, who, however, soon afterwards set them 
 at liberty, and caused them to be escorted to San Salvador, at 
 the same time excusing himself for the act which had been 
 committed. These apologies were made in fear of the punish- 
 ment which our vassal of Congo, in conjunction with the 
 
 * A da Ajuda : Codice (n'est livro ae contem, &c.) ; L. Cordeira : Da Mina 
 as Cabo Negro, 1574-1621 (Mem. do Ultramar). 
 
25 
 
 Governor of Angola and other Portuguese officers, was preparing 
 to iivflict on him.* 
 
 We may add that the kingdom of Makoko, or of the Anzicos, 
 first discovered by the Portuguese, is correctly shown in 
 African maps from the 16th century onward, as lying on the 
 northern banks of the upper course of the great river.f 
 
 So, preaching the faith, carrying on trade, fighting, erecting 
 fortifications, building churches and establishing markets, the 
 Portuguese spread themselves rapidly into the interior of Equa- 
 torial Africa, which they pierced and explored in many 
 directions. Merely to continue this brief indication of our 
 discoveries to the South of the Equator would be equivalent to 
 writing the history of our vast and ancient dominion on 
 the great black continent. 
 
 Priority of Discovery achnitted in Contemporaneous 
 Documents, 
 
 But if the facts that we thus simply recall were not sufficient 
 to decide irrefutably our claim to priority of discovery of the 
 region to which our statement relates, we could bring as corro- 
 borative evidence the positive testimony of contemporaries, as 
 witnessed in the clear and unanimous assent of the scientific 
 writers and governments of these epochs. 
 
 Before the Portuguese had crossed the Equator to the South 
 no map gave any indication of the African countries discovered 
 by us. On the contrary. Equatorial Africa up to that date is 
 shrouded in fancies, in marvels, and in h3rpotheses of the most 
 absurd kind, all the offspring of complete ignorance. It was 
 the Portuguese mariners and explorers. who, in tracing it out, 
 gave that shape to Africa which it still presents on our charts. 
 Their lessons, their information, build up little by little, 
 
 * Cavazzi, Istorica descrif. de Congo, 1690. 
 
 t As instances we mention the map in Pigapetta's "Congo" ("Anzicana") 
 d'Anville's map of Africa, 1789 (Royaume d'Anzico ou duMicocco) ; Kieperfs 
 map, 1845 (Anziko, Keich dcs Makoko). 
 
26 
 
 progressively and in a definite manner, a knowledge of the 
 water systems, of the mountain chains, of the indigenous races, 
 and of the flora and fauna of the great continent, and 
 particularly of that part of it with w^hich we are now concerned, 
 giving precise, certain, and real data concerning it, and 
 revealing it to the science, to the commerce, and — alas that it 
 should be so — to the ambition and cupidity of the old European 
 world. 
 
 We will not quote our own documents: foreign testimony 
 shall suffice for us even when apparently issued by no friendly 
 hand. Among documents of this kind we mention the globe of 
 of Martin Behaim (1492), the African chart of Soligo 1489), the 
 Insularium Illustratum of Henricus Martellus, who represents 
 the African Continent as it was known in 1489, and who 
 candidly declares with respect to the part discovered by us, 
 " hoc est vera forma moderna Affricse secundem descriptionem 
 Portugalensium inter mare Mediterraneum et oceanum meridio- 
 nalem " ; the charts of Livio Sanuto, of Juan de la Cosa, and of the 
 editions of Ptolemy subsequent to 1508 — those of the edition of 
 1513 for example, where it is stated — " particulares tabulae 
 ex chartis Portugalensium sumptae "; — the charts of John Eotz 
 (1542), of Nicolas Vallard of Dieppe (1547), of Grastaldi (1564), 
 of J. Dircher (1599), &c. ; the "Cosmography" of Belle Forest 
 (1575), the " History of the Indies" ofMaffei (1588), that of 
 Jarric (1615), the " Orbis Maritimus " of Morisot (1643), the 
 "Africa" of Marmol (1667), &c. 
 
 These documents, and many others equally unquestionable, 
 with their indications and references exclusively Portuguese, and 
 in which will be found, according to the custom of the time, the 
 authentic titles and arms of Portugal inscribed on the newly 
 discovered territories as a mark of sovereignty and possession, 
 give positive assurance to all, not only of our priority of dis- 
 covery but of the general recognition of our sovereignty, which 
 in those days almost invariably emanated by right and by cus- 
 tom from such priority.* 
 
 * On this subject comp. the works of Santarem. 
 
27 
 
 For the rest, we could form an extensive library with the testi- 
 monies to our rights furnished by history, by geography, by our 
 own and foreign archives, and by the unvarying traditions of the 
 natives, as revealed even now in the works of modern explorers. 
 We shall be content however to rest our claim to priority on the 
 documents and facts already cited, and shall pass to the second 
 basis of our claim, Le, possession, primarily established and 
 consistently maintained. 
 
28 
 
 III. POETUGAL'S EIGHTS EESULTINO FEOM 
 POSSESSION. 
 
 We not only discovered the Congo territories, but we in- 
 stantly proceeded to utilize our discoveries, openly in the face 
 of the civilized world, and with its consent ; and in accordance 
 with the laws then prevailing, discovery alone sufficed to estab- 
 lish the right of sovereignty, but this right in the present 
 instance was emphasised, as it were, by the fact of our having 
 taking actual possession animo dominii and to the exclu- 
 sion of all others, and that during a considerable period and 
 down even to the present day we have exercised our rights of 
 sovereignty. 
 
 Early GhaHers granted by the Crown of Portugal. 
 
 Our navigators took possession of the countries they dis- 
 covered in the name of the Crown of Portugal, and it was for 
 the benefit of this Crown, or its nominees, that commercial 
 monopolies were established. This is a fact disputed by none ; 
 and it is needless to cite authorities in support of it. We may, 
 however, be allowed to bring to mind the Eoyal Charter of the 
 10th May, 1481, by which the King of Portugal entrusted his 
 son, afterwards Joao IV., " with all undertakings concerning the 
 several parts of Gruinea, and with the examination of its seas, 
 lands and inhabitants, and everything thereto relating." At 
 the same time, a commercial monopoly is granted within the 
 territories " already found and discovered, or which may be found 
 and discovered in the future." The " prolonged and continued 
 possession " or quasi-possession of all these regions is specially 
 
29 
 
 dwelt upon in this charter, and its reality has subsequently been 
 recognised by other nations, proclaimed by Pontifical Bulls, 
 and sanctioned by diplomatic conventions.* 
 
 This same charter conferred upon Don Joao the right of 
 levying war in the king's name, either in defence of these 
 territories, or of the maintenance of the commercial monopoly, 
 of administering justice, and of raising a revenue. 
 
 We have here, therefore, our possession irrefutably esta- 
 blished ; not only possession aniTno dominii, but possession 
 actually acquired and held, and recognised as an exercise of 
 the sovereign right of Portugal. 
 
 The extension of our discoveries to the southward was 
 attended by like circumstances. We have already mentioned 
 the contract made with Ferniio Gromes, in which the Portuguese 
 Crown reserves to itself certain rights, and claims a fixed annual 
 royalty. One of the reservations confers on the inhabitants 
 of the Cape Verde Islands the right of exploration on the main- 
 land opposite, between the Senegal and Sierra Leone, a right 
 confirmed to these islands by royal edict of the 8th February, 
 1472. A like privilege is subsequently accorded to the in- 
 habitants of Saint Thomas with respect to the coast south of 
 Elmina on the Grold Coast, by the Charter of 1485, amplified bj 
 that of 1493. 
 
 Monuments as Tokens of having taken Possession of a 
 Country. 
 
 As we have said before, the King of Portugal, by edict of the 
 14th April, 1484, sent Diogo Cam to continue the discovery of 
 Western Africa " for the service of Grod, the propagation of the 
 Catholic faith, and the benefit and extension of our dominions." 
 
 Diogo Cam substituted for the original symbols of discovery 
 and possession great pillars of stone, which, bore the royal arms 
 of Portugal, with inscriptions in Portuguese, Latin and Arabic, 
 
 * Arch nac. Li v. dos mist 2 ; quoted by Silveira in Ann. Mar. e. Col. 1845. 
 
 B 2 
 
30 
 
 and were surmounted by a cross. Three of these monuments 
 were erected by Cam, of which one was at the mouth of the 
 Congo, as a symbol of his " having taken possession in the name 
 of Portugal of all the coast left behind," to use the words of 
 Joao de Barros. This mode of determining political acquisitions 
 by the first discovery of new territories has been adopted by 
 other countries, and continues to the present day. England 
 employed it so far back as the time of Henry the Seventh, when 
 an expedition (commanded however, be it observed, by Joao 
 Groncalves and Francisco Femandes, two Portuguese) was 
 authorised to take possession of any new countries that might 
 be discovered by it, by merely planting the English flag upon 
 them.* 
 
 In 1764, when France took possession of the Falkland 
 Islands, this act was recorded by the erection of an obelisk on 
 which was the effigy of Louis XV., and an inscription com- 
 memorative of the expedition of Colonel Bougainville. In 
 1774, when Lieutenant Clayton was about to abandon these 
 islands, he raised the British standard and deposited a leaden 
 tablet as a token that England did not surrender her claim to 
 the possession of these islands. f 
 
 We have cited these examples, as we might give many others 
 more recent, before beginning to deal with a modern and 
 merely theoretical objection against the proceedings above 
 described. 
 
 The Doctrines of International Laiu. 
 
 Eobert Phillimore is of opinion that, setting aside the 
 application of the right of discovery and the manifest affirma- 
 tion of possession, discovery pure and simple, even when 
 accompanied by the erection of a symbol of sovereignty, does 
 not constitute in itself a national acquisition, if there be not, 
 
 * Rymer, Feed. Quoted by Santarem, quad. elem. xv. 
 
 t Philimore, Comm. upon International Law, I. (1871-4). Cairo, Droit 
 Internationale, I., 1880. 
 
31 
 
 as well, an act of effective possession. He adds, however, that 
 English officers do not seem to share this opinion, as in the 
 case of the Falkland Islands for example. 
 
 One may dispute this proposition, which, it seems to us, 
 alters without in any degree strengthening the juridical prin- 
 ciple. It is, besides, not in accordance with the jurisprudence 
 adopted and followed by all nations at the time of the geo- 
 graphical discoveries of Portugal, a jurisprudence which, never- 
 theless, it is natural should regulate the rights springing from 
 such discoveries.* And in practice such a restriction could 
 never be admitted. 
 
 But even if we accept it, it is easy to show that, in the par- 
 ticular case with which we are dealing, the rights of Portugal 
 remain in force and have full legal value ; for as regards the 
 Congo regions, there is nothing more certain than that Portu- 
 guese domination was established therein at the same time as 
 the discovery was completed. Diogo Cam's monument is a 
 symbol of occupation and of effective possession. 
 
 But, before going further, it may be well to examine the 
 accepted principles which are held to prove and define effective 
 possession. 
 
 Everybody is aware that occupation and possession, in inter- 
 national as well as in common right, are not rigorously deter- 
 mined by their material and direct effectiveness. As Calvo 
 says, in summarizing the doctrines of the best authorities on 
 this subject : — 
 
 " When a state is in possession of a country, everything 
 " that that country contains becomes its property, even 
 " though its occupation should be effective over a portion only 
 " of such territory. If the state allows some of the lands to 
 " remain 'uncultivated or desert, nobody has a right to take 
 " possession of these lands without its acquiescence. Even if 
 " the State does not make the slightest use of them, they not 
 
 * PaivaManso, Louren 90 Marques. 
 
32 
 
 " the less belong to and form part- of it. It may be said that 
 " they are set aside for ulterior purposes, and the State is not 
 " obliged to render account to any one of the manner in which 
 " it chooses to use that which is it own property. Such for ex- 
 " ample is the position of the United States of America, of 
 "Mexico, and of the South American States, all of which 
 "possess vast temtories still uninhabited or peopled only by 
 " savages." 
 
 And such, it may be added, is the position of England, of 
 Portugal, of Holland, of Spain, and of France, with regard to 
 many of their colonial possessions. 
 
 Now the colonies of a nation form an integral part of the 
 national territory, or, in the words of Vattel, " When a nation. 
 " takes possession of a distant country and there establishes a 
 "colony, such country, although separated from the mother 
 " state, is as much part of it as its ancient possessions." 
 
 "The unvarying and approved custom of nations," says 
 Wheaton, * " shows that, whatever be the name given to this 
 "right, uninterrupted possession, exercised by a State during a 
 " certain time, excludes the rights of all other nations." 
 
 In summarizing the doctrine of all writers on international 
 law, Troplong remarks that possession, to be determined, need 
 not be attested by any exterior material fact, but that the 
 simple intention alone suffices. 
 
 Besides, possession need not be exercised by daily actions ; 
 its continuity and its permanence are proved by acts repeated 
 from time to time as occasion requires. This doctrine springs, 
 without any doubt, from the old Eoman law, " licet possessio 
 " nudo animo acquiri non possit tamen solo animo retineri 
 "potest," &c. 
 
 Fabre establishes that non-continuous acts, two uniform ones, 
 even a single one, suffices to fix the juridical continuity of 
 possession. 
 
 * Wheaton's Elements of International Law, edition of 1864. 
 
33 
 
 Argentre* and many other authorities assure us that this 
 continuity is proved by the traces of its intention and of its 
 ancient, intermittent, or sustained effectiveness. 
 
 Hefter, whom, for more than one reason, no one can accuse 
 of partiality, admits that domination does not lapse because 
 of a temi)orary interruption. 
 
 Besides, it is easy to see what absurd consequences, totally 
 opposed to logic, and to the traditions both of international 
 and common law, would flow from a line of reasoning tending 
 to admit, as an essential condition to the legitimacy and main- 
 tenance of international ^^ossession, the necessity for an effec- 
 tive and absolutely continuous occupation. If this were so, 
 France, England, the United States, every nation, in fact, 
 would be obliged to give up their rights of sovereignty over 
 many of tlie territories which belong to them, and which form 
 an integral part of their historical and national dominions, 
 but which they have never, in tlie strict sense of the word, 
 occupied. 
 
 To sum up, we can establish beyond fear of contradiction, in 
 full view of the doctrines and principles of international right 
 and in accordance with the views held and acted upon by 
 civilized states, that, in the case under consideration, possession 
 has been acquired and held — 
 
 1st. By public acts, showing an intention to rule over 
 and make use of these territories. 
 
 2nd. By political occupation and commercial enterprise. 
 
 3rd. By sustained occupation. 
 
 4th. By repeated acts of sovereignty. 
 
 5th. By claims to and reservations of sovereign rights. 
 
 6th. By public documents, remains of buildings, general 
 traditions of sovereignty, or of political suzerainty. 
 
 * Surla Bret, (quoted "by Manso, in Louren^o Murques). 
 
34 
 
 Under all these heads the Portuguese right of sovereignty — 
 at least from the territory of Malemba inclusive along the 
 coast to the south as far as the 18th parallel — is established 
 and defined in a formal and irrefutable manner. 
 
 As we have before shown, and as all the documents unani- 
 mously prove, possession was not a mere fortuitous act, distinct 
 from discovery, but was the juridical and practical, the simul- 
 taneous and inevitable consequence of it, from the time that our 
 explorers crossed the equator in the direction of the South and 
 penetrated into the countries situated beyond. 
 
 Discovery and taking possession went hand in hand, and this is 
 proved by the fact that the Portuguese Grovernment followed up 
 the discovery of the territories by the promotion of plans for 
 their exploration and for the establishment therein of civilized 
 colonies. With this end in view it defended the seas by means 
 of its fleets, built on some points state factories and on others 
 fortresses and towns, granted or denied to its own subjects 
 and foreigners the right of trading with, or even the mere access 
 to, these countries, and, in short, as declared in the royal charter 
 of 1481, made %uar when it was necessary to defend its 
 possessions, consolidated them by justice, utilized them to the 
 profit of the royal treasury by the levying of taxes, and, we will 
 add, improved them by means of civilization and disposed of 
 them by diplomatic negotiations; that is to say, that it 
 exercised its sovereignty in the fullest and most complete 
 manner. It is absurd to suppose that such a situation could be 
 created and maintained without the knowledge of other states. 
 Besides, it is well known that the Portuguese Grovernment 
 informed its sister nations of the discoveries that it had made. 
 It sought to introduce to the European markets the products 
 drawn from the new regions, it allowed many illustrious 
 foreigners to enter its service, and to travel in its vessels ; and 
 we shall have an opportunity of proving that many international 
 agreements sprang from this state of things. 
 
35 
 
 Testimnony of Distinguished Writers. 
 
 When Diogo Cam returned to Lisbon, bringing the news of 
 his discoveries to the south of Cape Saint Catherine, and 
 announcing that he had taken possession of them, the King of 
 Portugal added to his titles that of Lord of G-uinea (1485), a 
 circumstance which at that period corresponded exactly to the 
 international affirmation of a right of sovereignty and of 
 dominion. He caused new money to be struck, on which was 
 the royal effigy brandishing a sword, "in token," says a con- 
 temporary, " of the conquest of Africa made and pursued sword 
 " in hand."* 
 
 One of the French writers,t who has taken most to heart the 
 task of disputing, in the interests of his country, the priority of 
 the Portuguese discoveries, frankly admits that " King John 11. 
 " of Portugal added shortly afterwards to his titles that of Lord 
 " of Gruinea ; all the coasts up to that time surveyed by his 
 " subjects, as well as the seas ploughed by his war-vessels, 
 "seemed henceforward to form a single dominion, of which a. 
 " solemn taking possession was proclaimed." 
 
 We could add to this testimony many others equally weighty 
 and worthy of credence alike from the point of view of history 
 and of international right. 
 
 Moreover, as Joao de Barros declares, and as a multitude of 
 documents assure us, the news and the renown of our discoveries 
 and of our conquests resounded through all Europe. "John 
 " II. in his quality of illustrious hero and of courageous prince, 
 " in order to spare his successors any difficulties with the 
 " christian sovereigns," obtained by negotiations and by treaties 
 the recognition of his African sovereignty. 
 
 In addition to the translations of Portuguese contemporary 
 writers, various other works showed and described to Europe 
 not only our African discoveries and dominions, but also the 
 
 * Resende, Livro das obras, 1545. 
 
 t D'Avezec, Encyclopcdie des Gens du Monde. 
 
36 
 
 system of legislation and of commerce which had been 
 established in them. 
 
 Long afterwards, when the covetousness of the foreigners 
 (who were usually guided by the treason of our own pilots) 
 urged them to acts of piracy in our empire beyond the seas, 
 while at the same time they set up occasionally against our 
 rights discussions and arguments of the most fallacious kind, 
 Greronimo Grirava wrote as follows (1556): — 
 
 " The King of Portugal is not only lord of the East Indian 
 " seas, but he possesses as well, in the East and the West of 
 " Ethiopia, a great number of kingdoms with which he main- 
 " tains commercial relations, namely Senega (Senegal), Grambra 
 " (Grambia), Guinea," &c* 
 
 In 1575 a royal chronicler of France, Belle Forest, said: 
 " The King of Portugal has made himself master of most of the 
 " ports, and above all of Gruinea, Benim, and Manicongo." 
 
 In 1578 a work was published in Paris, with the special 
 object of making known the voyages and the conquests by 
 means of which the Portuguese had " made themselves 
 " masters of the greater part of Africa." f 
 
 Need we again cite the Mondo Nuovo of Yincentino (1507), 
 translated into almost every language, the collection of 
 Eamusio (1550), the classical work of P. Maffei (1588), the 
 Orbis Maritimus of Moriaot (1643), the Africa of Marmol 
 (1667)? 
 
 " All this coast of Guinea," wrote a Portuguese pilot, whose 
 narration was published by Eamusio in 1550, " as far as the 
 " Kingdom of Manicongo, is divided into two parts, which are 
 " leased every four or five years to the highest bidder, who thus 
 " obtains the right to trade in these countries and ports. Those 
 " who enjoy this concession are styled arrematadores (' highest 
 " bidders'), and with the exception of them or of their delegates, 
 
 * Quoted by Santarem, Priorite. 
 
 t J. Centellas: Voyages et Conquetes, 1578.J 
 
<^ nobody is permitted to approach this coast, to land on it, to 
 ** buy or to sell." 
 
 In its general features this system held its ground for a 
 long time. We are not concerned to discuss it, we have merely 
 cited it as a positive and irrefutable affirmation of inter- 
 national possession. We may remark, however, that there was 
 nothing singular or extraordinary in such a system at the 
 period when it was established. In many European colonies 
 the system of mercantile monopolies worked by the State has 
 not yet disappeared, and it is decidedly unfair of certain critics 
 to endeavour to judge the facts and institutions of bygone days 
 by the lights and doctrines which now prevail. 
 
 Development and Consolidation of the Portuguese 
 Dominions. 
 
 In many instances it was found necessary to construct forts 
 for the protection of explorers and of commerce, and this was 
 more especially the case to the north of the Equator. Thus 
 were built the forts at Arguin and on the Senegal, those of Saint 
 Sebastian in Lamma, of St. George of Mina (for the construc- 
 tion of which had been sent, in 1481, an expedition of 500 
 soldiers and 100 workmen, under the command of Diogo 
 d'Azambuja), the castle of Cape Corso, now known as Cape Coast 
 Castle ; that erected at Accra, &c. 
 
 In general, however, and notably to the south of the Equator, 
 the mild character of the natives, their complete submission, the 
 vicinity of centres of population and of military forces — such as 
 that organised at St. Thomas and later on in Angola — the ad- 
 ministrative division into captaincies which was at once adopted, 
 enabled us to exercise our authority, either through the agency 
 of royal or privileged factories, the chiefs of which were ap- 
 pointed by Government, or by the vassalage of the native tribes, 
 whom we endeavoured to civilize by means of religious and 
 secular instruction. 
 
38 
 
 Portugal and the Kingdom of Congo. 
 
 We have already referred to the expedition to San Salvador, 
 in 1491, from which date the relations between Portugal and 
 the kingdom of Congo, which, at least np to the end of the 16th 
 century, extended as far north as Loango, where we planted at 
 an early period a royal factory. 
 
 The relation in which Congo stands to Portugal since then 
 corresponds to the ' hommage-lige ' of feudal law, was more 
 clearly defined when, to the first king whom we had converted 
 and baptized, succeeded in 1509 his son Npemba-anjinga, 
 baptized under the name of Alfonso I. This king, who owed his 
 throne to the assistance of the Portuguese, recognised and made 
 formal acknowledgment of his condition of vassal in a letter 
 which he wrote to the King of Portugal in 1512.* 
 
 Long before this, however, an ambassador from Congo had 
 come to Europe to render homage to the Portuguese monarch. 
 We speak of Pero de Manicongo, so styled in the royal ordinances 
 of the 10th December, 1493, and who was made the bearer to 
 the king of a present from the King of Portugal. He was 
 accompanied on his return by a Portuguese delegate, Joao 
 Soares.t 
 
 On the 20tli February, 1500, this Alfonso addressed himself 
 to Pope Paul III., through the Portuguese Government, as his 
 lord and suzerain, and several years later the King of Portugal 
 made him a grant of armorial bearings, as well as of titles of 
 nobility for some of his principal macotas, fixing at the same 
 time the title and the formal signature which ought to be 
 employed, and sending him a code of Portuguese laws. J 
 About the same period a Portuguese resident was installed at 
 San Salvador. 
 
 *Damas de Goes: Chron. de D. Manoel, 1506. — Bol. oflf. do gov. d' Angola, 
 2so. 642. — Santarem, Demonstration. 
 
 t Riteiio, Diss. Chron. 
 
 X Arch. nac. g. 15 m., 1 e 14. — Cordeiio, Escr. e Minas, 1516-1619 (Mom. 
 do Ultramaj). 
 
4 
 
 39 
 
 As it is our desire to quote by preference public documents 
 which are accessible to everybody, we will mention the message 
 of the 4th March, 1516, in which the King of Congo humbly 
 makes known to the King of Portugal the differences which 
 have arisen between the Portuguese resident, Alvaro Lopes — 
 who, in the absence of the native sovereign, had been invested 
 with the title of Grovernor of Congo — and a corregedor or judge 
 who had been sent to the country to exercise the functions of 
 his office in the name of the King of Portugal. 
 
 The Muene had been authorised to nominate a Portuguese 
 auditor (ouvidor) whose office was held in- 1536 by Manuel 
 Pacheco the explorer, of whom we have already spoken. 
 
 In May, 1548, the auditor and overseer, Simiio da Motta, 
 " charged with the administration of justice in the kingdom and 
 " dominions of Congo," opened, at the request of the native 
 sovereign, an inquiry into the slave trade on the Congo river. 
 The issue on this inquiry was sent by the Muene to the King 
 of Portugal, in order that he might maintain the prohibition of 
 this traffic in the ports of the south.* Pero Martino Estaco 
 acted on this occasion as private secretary to the Muene. 
 
 In our own days the political chief of the administrative dis- 
 trict of the Congo, which forms an integral part of our province 
 of Angola, fills also the post of resident at San Salvador, and it 
 is through him that the King of Congo forwards the applications 
 of foreigners desirous of establishing themselves in his country, 
 for the approval of the Grovernor General. 
 
 Upon the death of the first King of Congo known to us, that 
 is to say in 1509, his successor, much disturbed by a pretender, 
 owed the preservation of his throne — or rather of the State, to 
 use the language and tradition of our African colonies — to the 
 support and succour of our countrymen. 
 
 * Aich. Nac. L. Chr. I. 
 
40 
 
 In 1558 an invasion of the Yakkas"* assailed the vast 
 dominions of this potentate, who was compelled to take refuge 
 on an island in the Congo, occupied by the Portuguese, who 
 protected him there. 
 
 In 1570 a Portuguese expedition, under the command of 
 Francisco de Gouvea, expelled and subjugated the invaders, 
 who subsequently, at various places and on different occasions, 
 entered our service. In place of taking complete possession of 
 the country we re-established our vassal in his authority.* 
 
 The Muene thereupon again did homage, and ceded to us 
 absolutely the whole coast from Pinda in the Congo (the first 
 settlement there founded by us) to the island of Loando in- 
 clusive. This island was named by a contemporary " The Congo 
 Treasury," because the Cowrie shells, which are the current coin 
 of the natives, are found there. 
 
 Even in our days the King of Congo, in his letters to the 
 Governor-Greneral of the province, styles him "Lord of the 
 Coast" (of Congo). 
 
 Political Divisions of Portuguese Africa, 
 
 For a long time, not only the missionaries established in 
 Congo, but also the conduct of political and commercial affairs 
 in that territory were intrusted to the Portuguese Bishop of St. 
 Thomas, whose diocese, as defined in the Bull of 3rd November, 
 1534, included the coast from the river of Santo Andre, in lat. 
 4° 57' K, to Cape Agulhas, in lat. 34° 50' S. 
 
 By the Bull of the 20th May, 1595, Congo and Angola were 
 created a separate diocese, with San Salvador for its capital. 
 
 This was not by any means a nominal or honorary bishopric, 
 but a district in good working order, with a staff appointed and 
 paid for by Portugal. 
 
 * Pigafetta's Congo. F. L. de Sousa, Hist, de S. Dom. — A. da Ajuda, 
 Codice.— L. Cordeira, Mem. doTJltram., Da Mina, 1571— 1C20, Benguella, 1617 
 —22. 
 
A 
 
 When Loanda was founded in virtue of orders sent out to 
 Paulo Dias de Novaes, in 1572, and became the capital of 
 Angola, and the centre of Portuguese power, the kingdom of 
 Congo, including its territories to the north of the river, became 
 dependent upon it. Such is the case still, for the northern 
 boundary of our province of Angola is assumed to pass to the 
 north of Malemba, under lat. 5° 12' S. 
 
 A document of the early part of the 17th century* affirms 
 that the so-called Gruinea coast commences at Cape Branco, 
 lat. 20° 46' N, and defines the political districts, or captaincies, 
 subject to the jurisdiction of the "Conselho" of India, as 
 follows : 
 
 1st. The Captaincy of Cape Verde, formed by the 
 Archipelago of that name and by our present pro- 
 vince of Gruinea. 
 
 2nd. The Captaincy of Sierra Leone, from Cape Vergo, 
 or the Cosses river, to Cape Palmas, according to 
 the grant made to Pedro Alves Pereira. 
 
 3rd. The Captaincy of Mina, from Cape Palmas to 
 the Eiver Volta, comprising the fortress of Mina, 
 which with the adjacent village had been incor- 
 porated as a "town" by royal edict of 15th March, 
 1486, as well as the Castle of Axim, which belonged 
 to us up to 1641. 
 
 4th. The Captaincy of St. Thomas, from the Eiver Volta 
 to the mouth of the Congo. 
 
 As regards Congo, the aforesaid document observ^es that this 
 kingdom, " according to its ancient limits, commences in the 
 " north at Barreiras Point,"t but that the authority of its king 
 is " now " only recognised from the port of Pinda to that of 
 Loanda, which moreover belongs absolutely to the King of 
 
 *A. de Ajuda, Codice. L. Cordeira, Mem. 1606, Estab. e resgates. 
 t Now Chilonga, in lat. 4". 16'. Lopes (in Pigafetta's Congo) states that 
 it terminated in lat. 4^* 30' IS. Pimentel, art. de nav., ed. 1722. 
 
42 
 
 Portugal, having been ceded as a reward for the aid rendered 
 to the King of Congo in 1570. It is further observed, that only 
 the fear of Portuguese arms prevents the destruction of the 
 said kingdom. 
 
 Next to Congo lies the kingdom of Angola, properly so called, 
 the conqueror of which was Paulo Dias de Novaes, a descendent 
 of Bartholomew Dias. 
 
 These territories yielded considerable revenues to the crown 
 of Portugal, notwithstanding the expenditure in which they 
 involved it. 
 
 Commerce a State Monopoly, 
 
 The State reserved to itself the exclusive right of trading " in 
 the seas and on the coasts of Guinea," which had been discovered 
 by its navigators. It either carried on commercial operations 
 through its own officials, or it ceded its rights to private 
 adventurers, always reserving to itself a power of supervision. 
 
 In the Cortes of 1473 a demand was made that this system 
 of royal charters should cease, and that trading monopolies 
 should henceforth be granted only for certain districts, to be 
 put up at public auctions. The vast extent of Africa and the 
 requirements of commerce indeed called for a division into 
 districts, if not indeed to the admission of all Portuguese alike 
 to trade there, a demand for which was made as early as 1581, 
 by the Cortes, which met in that year at Thomar. 
 
 However, by the laws of Portugal the rights of carrying 
 on commerce in these regions was a crown monopoly, and 
 not only foreigners but also Portuguese were forbidden, 
 under pain of the most severe punishments, to trade with, to 
 establish themselves in, or to make war in "the countries, 
 " territories and seas of Guinea, &c.," without the express 
 authorisation of the Government. This is attested by a great 
 number of documents. 
 
43 
 
 On the IStb. January, 1499, King Emmanuel, in view of the 
 fact that, by right of succession, the crowns of Portugal and of 
 Spain would be united on the head of either himself or of his 
 son, promulgated a sort of Constitutional Charter, which 
 eventually guaranteed to Portugal an autonomous existence and 
 full independence of administration. He acted thus in ac- 
 cordance with the national will, always clear and unshakeable 
 on this point. 
 
 This interesting document stipulates in the most explicit 
 manner not only that the government of all the territories in 
 Africa then belonging to Portugal, or that might be acquired 
 in the future, shall be confided to Portuguese only, but also 
 " that all the territories in Gruinea, already discovered or to be 
 " discovered later on, whether by explorers already sent by us 
 '* or by those whom we may afterwards charge to explore this 
 " coast of Africa, shall be always governed by Portugal, and that 
 " all the oflBcials and others proceeding to these regions shall be 
 " Portuguese, and shall go in vessels belonging to this kingdom." 
 
 On the 19th December, 1575, King Sebastian, yielding to the 
 demands of the municipality of Lisbon and of the Masters of 
 the Guilds, confirmed the above charter, and this course was 
 eagerly followed likewise by Philip I. of Spain on the 24th 
 July, 1595, after that monarch had by violence and corruption 
 laid hands on the crown of Portugal. 
 
 This same Spanish King, wishing to gain the goodwill of the 
 Portuguese Cortes, made offer to them and proposed by his 
 delegates, when they met at Thomar on the 20th April, 1581, 
 a series of constitutional precepts, which he undertook to 
 respect if they accepted him as king. Chapter 7 of these pre- 
 cepts or engagements promises " that the regions of India and 
 " Gruinea, as well as other regions belonging to Portugal, or that 
 " may be discovered by her in future, shall not be separated from 
 " the Portuguese mother country, and that the status quo shall 
 "be maintained, and that the officers and ships despatched 
 " to these regions shall be Portuguese." 
 
44 
 
 These articles were confirmed and ratified by a charter of the 
 Spanish king, of the 15th November, 1582. 
 
 The commercial monox:)oly of Portugal in Africa was estab- 
 lished when the first discoveries were made there, and possession 
 taken of the country. It was continued by a charter of the 
 18th January, 1499, in the same terms which had previously been 
 employed by Philip II. of Castille and first of that name of 
 Portugal. 
 
 The Code known as the " Ordenapoes " of Don Manoel 
 declares. Clause cxii. — 
 
 " It is by law prohibited to any person, native or foreigner, of 
 " no matter what state or condition, to go or to send, on any 
 *' other vessels than ours, to the said parts, territories and seas 
 " of Guinea and of the Indies, or to any other of the regions, seas 
 " and places of our conquests ; to make treaties, or buy, or wage 
 " war, without our permission and authority, under pain of death 
 " and of the confiscation of all his goods to our profit, &c 
 
 " By this same law we empower all captains, pilots, masters, 
 " proprietors and shipowners in our fleet, as well as all and every 
 " other person in our kingdom, who may proceed to those 
 " territories and seas in virtue of permission or of privileges 
 " obtained by them, to seize all vessels that they may encounter 
 " in those waters in contravention of this our decree, to bring 
 ** them and their crews under arrest and safe guard, and to 
 " deliver them to our judge of Guinea. 
 
 Even the Castilian kings, as long as they were able to main- 
 tain their dominion in Portugal, respected these principles 
 of common intematioaal right, and forbade the fleets and 
 subjects of Spain to navigate to or trade with the Portuguese 
 possessions. 
 
 On the 9th February, 1591, this prohibition was again 
 promulgated, and a royal edict of the 18th March, 1605, in 
 
45 
 
 repeating it revoked all concessions which had been accorded 
 to foreigners. 
 
 On the 8th February, 1711, another royal decree, in alluding 
 to certain English war vessels which had sailed into our ports 
 beyond the seas, stipulates that the ships of no nation 
 whatever shall enter our ports unless they form part of a 
 Portuguese squadron, and only then by virtue of a special 
 concession. * 
 
 At the close of the 16th century our western coast of Africa 
 from Mina to the south was actually divided, as to its fiscal 
 system, into three zones, or, to borrow the language of the time, 
 ^'contracts." f 
 
 In 1589, P'rancisco Eovelasca undertook to farm the commerce 
 of Mina for nine years, paying for the concession twenty-four 
 contos of reis (£5,800) annually, independently of certain 
 revenues and of some particular charges. In consequence of 
 some circumstance unknown this contract was not carried out, 
 and the resgate (commerce) was carried on directly by the State. 
 
 In 1606 the trade of St. Thomas was leased for ten years to 
 Jorge Eodrigues da Costa. at the rate of 9,500 milreis annually 
 (£2300). This trading concession not only extended to 
 Fabim, Popo, Vere, the Graboon, Benin and Cape Lopo Gonsalves, 
 but also to Loango and the adjacent coast as far as the Kiver 
 Congo. 
 
 The district of Angola having been knocked down in 1607 to 
 Duarte Dias Henriques, he alleged that the factory at Loango 
 formed part of his concession, which extended to the whole of 
 the captaincy of Angola, then recently created. This claim was 
 admitted, and the annual royalty payable by the " arrematante" 
 of St. Thomas was diminished by four contos of reis, a like 
 sum being added to]^the annual royalty of Angola. This then, 
 as far as the revenues of the crown is concerned, was the value 
 
 * Patente de Priv. gra^. e merces &c. (Coll. imp. off, de 1583. Ordonan90s, 
 €d. 1797. 
 
 t Falcao, Livro em que se contem tcda a fazenda, 1607. 
 
46 
 
 of the commerce carried on to the south of Cape Lopez, and as 
 far as the River Congo, where our occupation was at all times 
 almost exclusively of a commercial nature. 
 
 Pinda, a town built by us, which at the end of the 16th 
 century was the chief trading station on the Congo. At this 
 period Loango formed already part of the province of Angola, 
 and the King of that country, who had been tributary to the 
 Sovereign of Congo, solicited the despatch of missionaries from 
 Portugal. 
 
 At different times we were obliged to maintain, by force of 
 arms, our authority in these regions. References to incidents 
 of this nature will be found in the well-known narrative of 
 Andrew Battel (1589), an Englishman in the service of Portugal, ' 
 who describes the invasion and conquest by the Portuguese of 
 Angoy and Kakongo, which form our present district of 
 Kabinda. 
 
 As a general rule, however, our dominion did not call for 
 warlike enterprises, and in many instances the native chiefs 
 were only too anxious to see established in their territories our 
 factories and missionaries. 
 
 Educational Efforts of Portugal. 
 
 In addition to sending missionaries for spreading the Christian 
 faith, Portugal from the earliest period was intent upon in- 
 structing the natives in the elements of secular knowledge, 
 either by sending them to the mother country to be educated, 
 or by establishing schools. 
 
 As early as 1493, Martim Affonso was teaching reading and- 
 writing to the natives of Congo, and the expedition of Manuel 
 Pacheco was accompanied by two schoolmasters who were to 
 reside in the nbanza of the King of Angola.* 
 
 The instructions given to Estevfio da Gama, captain of St. 
 Greorge of Mina, on the 6th of February, 1529, provide for 
 
 * Aich. nac. — Ribiero, diss, chion. — Arch, dos A9ores. 
 
47 
 
 tlie instruction of the native children in reading and writing. 
 Many other instances of the same kind could be quoted by us. 
 
 The Inroads of Foreign Adventurers on the Congo. 
 
 But, while we were engaged in establishing and consolidating 
 at the cost of huge sacrifices, Christian civilisation in these 
 African countries, foreign adventures came in the most cowardly 
 manner, to attack and pillage our factories and our ships, to sow 
 discord between us and the natives, and to endeavour to sub- 
 stitute for our peaceful and regenerating rule a factitious 
 dominion born of war and spoliation. 
 
 Unfortunately a great national calamity gave them an oppor- 
 tunity for realizing these barbarous designs. We refer to the 
 annexation of Portugal by Spain, which, during a long period, 
 undermined and reduced our strength, while raising up against 
 us powerful enemies. 
 
 It was necessary then to think seriously of our own defence, 
 to make violent reprisals, and, as soon as we had shaken off the 
 yoke of Spain, to endeavour to re-constitute — which we did 
 most effectively — our African dominion to the south of the 
 Equator.* 
 
 In 1532, whilst Loango and the Congo still formed part of 
 the fiscal district of St. Thomas, the " factor " was specially 
 instructed to enforce the commercial monopoly of Portugal, to 
 seize vessels not authorised to trade in that river, and to take 
 stringent measures against all persons found to act con- 
 trary to the regulations which had been laid down by us. 
 
 In 1606 and 1609 we expelled from the Congo the Dutch 
 adventurers, and in 1611 an expedition was sent from Portugal 
 under the command of Antonio Gronsalves Pitta, nominated 
 Captain of Congo, with orders to erect a fortress on the river, 
 at Pinda. 
 
 * Arch, do Cons. ultr. (ant.).— Correia, Hist. d'Angola, M.S., 1782. Feyo, 
 Mem. — Cath. dos gov. L. Lusia : Ens. est, &c. 
 
48 
 
 lUstoration of Portuguese Authority, 
 
 No sooner had Portugal regained her independence than 
 Loando was wrested from the Dutch, who had totally failed to 
 destroy our influence or to establish their own, and we then 
 rapidly and vigorously reconstituted our great African province 
 to the South of the Equator. 
 
 In 1648, 1652, 1658 and 1660, our naval forces occupied 
 successively the Congo and the northern ports as far as Loan go, 
 expelling the Dutch and other foreign invaders. 
 
 In 1648 and 1649, Bartholomeu de Vasconcellos e Cunha 
 subjected Congo and Matamba, whilst about the same time 
 Antonio Teixeira de Moraes brought under dominion Ilamba, 
 and Diogo Mendes de Moraes, Kisama. Golungo Alto was re- 
 conquered in 1658, Libollo in 1677, and the old King Ngola, or 
 Angola, lost in 1671 his last royal nbanza, and on its site was 
 built the fortress of Pungo ndongo. Thus the three great 
 kingdoms that we had discovered in this part of Africa, viz. : 
 Congo, Angola or Ngola, and Matamba, were overthrown or 
 subjugated by our arms and incorporated into our colonial 
 empire before the end of the 17th century. 
 
 As may thus be seen, the question of the ancient boundaries 
 is of secondary importance, and our claims to dominion through- 
 out the territories to the south of Cape Lopez is founded, not 
 merely on the commerce carried on by us, the civilizing 
 influence brought to bear upon the natives, and the voluntary 
 submission of many of the chiefs, but has also been enforced by 
 conquest and military occupation, and consolidated by the 
 introduction of regular government. 
 
 The hand of death had not yet removed the last of the 
 valiant captains sent with Paulo Dias de Novaes to the conquest 
 of the territories of Angola or Ngola, the ancient vassal of the 
 Muene of Congo who had called us to his aid, when our effective 
 dominion extended over an area measuring one hundred leagues 
 in length by sixty in breadth. 
 
49 
 
 The conquest of the territories which form our present district 
 of Benguella was first attempted at the time of Paulo Dias de 
 Novaes, and finally effected in 1617 by Manuel Cerveira Pereira, 
 the founder of San Filippe, the present capital of the district. 
 
 But the foreign invaders, though finally defeated throughout 
 our dominions, had sown the seeds of intrigue and revolt 
 amongst the misguided natives. They had done nothing for 
 them, had attempted neither to instruct nor to civilize them. 
 They had merely lowered and weakened the prestige, the moral 
 force and the authority of the luhltes, thus retarding consider- 
 ably the work of civilization in Africa. 
 
 It may then be said, without fear of contradiction, that 
 civilization was not only first introduced by us, but that its 
 influence was restored after foreign interlopers had destroyed it ; 
 and it would be easy to show that it is the respect and love in 
 which our name is traditionally held by the natives that has 
 rendered easy the task of many a modern explorer. This has 
 been most willingly conceded in the communications which 
 these explorers had with our authorities, although they have 
 not in all instances fairly acknowledged it in their printed 
 works. 
 
 FiiHher Extension of Portuguese Rule, 
 
 In 1656 a renewed revolt in Congo was severely punished, 
 and in 1665 Luiz Lopes de Sequeira put to death the Muene of 
 that period as a traitor, after he had defeated him and his ally 
 of Ngola in a memorable battle. Congo thenceforth once more 
 acknowledged itself a vassal of Portugal. 
 
 The rulers of Matamba or Jinga who had admitted our 
 supremacy in 1618, nevertheless raised the standard of insur- 
 rection in 1621, 1627, 1649, and again in 1745, 1781 and 1838 
 On each occasion they were subdued and brought to submission 
 by Portuguese expeditions, of which that of 1745, under the 
 command of Bartholomeu Duarte de Sequeira, occupied the 
 nbanza of the old kingdom. 
 
50 
 
 The Ngola, or King of Dongo or Angola retired towards the 
 north in proportion as the Portuguese occupation advanced. 
 He once more acknowledged himself a vassal in 1620 and the 
 last of the line, Joiio Harj byname, was annihilated in 1671 by 
 Luiz Lopes de Sequeira. 
 
 The celebrated ndembos, (Ambuilla Cabonda, &c.) were 
 successively subjugated in 1692, 1759 and 1766; and in 1672, 
 1686, 1689, 1695 and 1711, numerous expeditions were sent to 
 punish the unruly savages of Kisama. 
 
 In 1624 Captain Eoque de Sao Miguel brought under sub- 
 jection the jaka of Kasanje. We may here remark that in 
 1850 the reigning jaka was deposed by an expedition under 
 the command of Francisco de Salles Ferreira, who re-established 
 Portuguese authority in the Bondo region and again opened 
 the road to Lunda (the M uatayanvo's) country. 
 
 In 1790 and 1792 Pinheiro de Lacerda punished the revolt 
 of the powerful regulo of Musula, generally known as the 
 Marquis of Mussul. Pinheiro on this occasion traversed the 
 country between the Lifune, the Onzo and the Lue, occupied 
 Ambriz, and built a fort on the banks of the Loshe. On the 
 25th April, 1792, the cowed regulo came to St. Paul de Loando, 
 accompanied by his princij^al macotas, to implore pardon. 
 
 It is necessary to point out that vassalages such as those 
 imposed^or negotiated by the Portuguese in Africa, which were 
 duly and legally formulated in the course of solemn meetings 
 .such as are consecrated by national law and native customs, must 
 not be confounded with the fantastic and ridiculous treaties 
 obtained and put forward by explorers whose relations with the 
 black rulers have been of the most transitory kind, and who 
 sometimes entered into such transactions with chiefs having no 
 shadow of authority. Claims of the nature of those raised by 
 England with reference to Delagoa Bay and Bolama Island, 
 on grounds which France and the United States, in their 
 sentences of Arbitration, declared to be frivolous, ought surely 
 not to be put forward in other parts of Africa. 
 
51 
 
 Porturpiese Enterprise on the Congo. 
 
 We have already shown how we had pushed to the north as 
 far as the territories of Makoko, whose existence we had 
 revealed to Europe at the end of the 1 6th century. We have 
 also pointed out how our preponderance had been established 
 in the Congo, in Angoy fKabinda), and in the countries north- 
 w^ard as far as Cape Lopez. To secure our dominion we founded 
 in 1577 the presidio of Kalumbo; in 1583 we raised the fort of 
 Massangano at the confluence of the Lukalla and the Kuanza ; 
 in 1599 we built the fort of Mushima; in 1604 that of 
 Kambambe; in 1614-16 that of Ambaca ;] in 1759 that of St. 
 Jose de Encoge or Pedras de Hoji (in lat. 7° 39' S., and long. 
 Gr. 15° 13' E.); in 1671 we built Pungo ndongo, and after- 
 wards the fort of Bembe and others. 
 
 Certain English adventurers having established and fortified 
 themselves at Kabinda, the frigate Nossa Senhora d'Atalaya, 
 sent from Lisbon in 1723 under the command of Jose de 
 Samedo Maia, called at that fort on the 23rd of October, 
 captured two vessels, and destroyed the fort constructed by the 
 adventurers. Thirty-five cannon were found therein, and seized 
 by our soldiers. 
 
 In the same year a royal decree ordered the erection of a 
 fortress on the banks of the Gaboon river. 
 
 The Bishop of Angola and Congo having, on the 15th 
 January, 1752, complained of the ill effects of the extensive 
 trade in negroes carried on on the coast of Loango by foreign 
 slavers, the Administrator of Crown Eevenues proposed, in 
 1753, to fortify the ports of Loango, Malemba and Kabinda, 
 In 1779 the Government ordered the erection of fortresses at 
 Malemba, at Kabinda, and on the banks of the Congo, with a 
 view to overawe the natives no less than the slave traders 
 complained of. 
 
 On the 11th July, 1783, a squadron composed of the frigate 
 Grapa, the corvette Invincivel, and three other vessels, the 
 
52 
 
 Loanda, the Soroca, and the San Jose, commanded by Captain 
 Antonio Januario de Valle, sailed from Loanda with a body of 
 troops who were to construct and garrison a fort at Kabinda. 
 In the instructions issued to that effect it was declared that, 
 irom the time of King John II., the crown of Portugal had the 
 right of sovereignty over the territories comprised between 
 €ape Lopez and Cape Negro, and that the erection of a fort at 
 Kabinda was above all intended to show that we took effective 
 possession of the territory claimed by us. The expedition in 
 question included 380 foot soldiers, 10 dragoons, 67 workmen, 
 116 negroes, 20 heavy guns and 6 of small calibre, the whole 
 commanded by Luiz Candido Cordeiro, a colonel of engineers. 
 
 The construction of the fort was commenced, to the great 
 •disgust of the foreign slave traders, who since that time have 
 lost no opportunity for embroiling us with their Governments 
 and with the natives. In this they were only too successful. 
 On the 17th June, 1784, whilst our fort was still in course of 
 construction and had not yet been fully armed, when there was 
 not in the port a single vessel of our nationality, and when the 
 Portuguese garrison was decimated by disease, two French 
 frigates commanded by Bernard de Marigny, unexpectedly 
 made their appearance on the coast. At first Marigny pre- 
 tended that his intentions were altogether pacific and friendly, 
 but when he had made himself acquainted with the poverty 
 of our resources, he summoned our men to abandon the 
 fort, that had only just been commenced, and to this summons 
 our garrison was constrained to obey, although not without 
 most strongly protesting against this violation of our rights. 
 Indeed, the injustice and illegality of these proceedings were 
 made manifest even by the means with which it was sought to 
 justify them ; for Marigny, knowing that France could neither 
 lay claim to this coast, nor equitably dispute our rights, 
 pompously declared that he " refrained from raising the 
 *' standard of the King of France, inasmuch as that monarch 
 ■'^ had no intention of conquering these African regions, but 
 
53 
 
 " merely of maintaining in them complete equality of com- 
 " merce between all nations." * 
 
 But the history of his own nation and the practice of all 
 sovereign states lend no colour to such a mode of action, nor 
 was France authorised to act thus as the mandatory of other 
 civilised powers. 
 
 Indeed, not long afterwards, in 1786, the French Government 
 disavowed the action of its admiral, and loyally apologized for 
 his brutal attack on our sovereign rights. 
 
 We ought not to pass without notice two other important 
 confirmations of our rights, which were as follows : — 
 
 1° The royal decree of the 11th January, 1758, which 
 declared that the commerce of Angola, Congo,. 
 Loango and Benguella should be free to the Portu- 
 guese, but interdicted to foreigners unless by 
 special permission. 
 2° The decree of the 15th August, 1769, which dis- 
 solved the Company for carrying on the slave trade,, 
 and was ordered to be published at Loango, Angola,. 
 Benguella. 
 
 The Extent of the Portuguese Dominions in Africa as set forth 
 in Official Documents. 
 
 It is time, however, that we turned our attention more 
 especially to the record of facts which go to show the present 
 position of our sovereignty on the Congo and in the territories 
 to the north of it. 
 
 The constitutional charter of Portugal was signed on the 
 29th April, 1826, and its main provisions are still in force iii 
 these African possessions. Article 2 of this constitution, in 
 brief, by indicating the extent of the Portuguese territory, 
 declares that it comprises in western Africa, amongst others, 
 
 ♦ S. Correia: Hist. d'Ana:ola, 1782, (M.S. Geogr. Soc. of Lisloa), Flass an : 
 Hist. gen. et rais. de la dipl. Fran 9. 1811.— Sa de Bandeira : Faits et cons. &c. 1855. 
 
54 
 
 Angola and Benguella with their dependencies (Congo &c.), 
 Kabinda and Malemba, &c. It adds, however, that the nation 
 does not renounce any rights which it may have over other 
 territories not expressly mentioned. 
 
 The Constitution of the 4th April, 1 838, enumerates the 
 same countries. Both of these documents were solemnly pub- 
 lished and communicated to all the foreign powers, not one 
 among which raised the least objection to the very explicit 
 declaration of Portuguese claims in Africa which they set forth. 
 
 Proposed Occupation of the Congo in 1838. 
 
 When Admiral Antonio Manoel de Noronha was appointed 
 Governor of Angola, in 1838, the instructions given to him 
 conveyed the determination of the Portuguese Grovernment 
 that the work of civilization already begun in Congo and the 
 neighbouring districts should be continued. In explaininfi^ to 
 the new Grovemor that the province confided to his adminis- 
 tration extended from lat. 5° 12' to 18° S., the Portuguese 
 Oovernment recommended that the Congo should be explored, 
 and that a suitable site should be selected on its banks where- 
 on might be founded a permanent settlement, to be called 
 New Lisbon. He was moreover advised to build three forts, 
 one at Bomba Conza and two near the mouth of the river, and 
 to station there two gun-boats for the protection and regu- 
 lation of commerce. The occupation of Ambriz, Kabinda and 
 Malemba was declared at the same time to be indispensable, 
 if the slave trade, which had been put down and almost ex- 
 tinguished in the southern ports, should not find easy refuge 
 in those of the north. 
 
 We wish, more especially, to direct attention to the fact, that 
 the Portuguese Grovernment, notwithstanding the charges en- 
 tailed by the execution of the above noble purpose, had no 
 intention of monopolizing the commerce of these regions, which, 
 in view of the example of other nations, it would have been 
 
55 
 
 perfectly justified in doing. On the contrary, it was expressly 
 arranged that on the Congo, and at the other ports which it was 
 intended to occupy, foreigners should be freely permitted to 
 trade, and that every protection and all facilities should be 
 extended to them by the authorities to be established there. 
 
 " The extent of this river," says Article 8 of the Instructions, 
 *' the long course over which it is navigable, the riches of its 
 ^' shores, all give assurance that the town which it is proposed 
 ** to found on a suitable site is destined to become in time the 
 *' greatest and richest emporium of commerce in Western 
 <« Africa." 
 
 Without pausing to discuss whether these hopes would have 
 been realised to their full extent, we may give expression to 
 our regret that much to the detriment of commerce and the 
 progress of civilization, the execution of the plan sketched out 
 was deferred to a later period. This was done in consequence 
 of the interested opposition of foreigners, who conceived that 
 their interests would suffer in consequence of the effective 
 occupation of a territory our claim to which could not be fairly 
 disputed, but who would have themselves been the first to profit 
 from the introduction of regular government. 
 
 Exercise of Portuguese Jurisdiction on the Congo, 1839. 
 
 But even though we have not as yet taken actual possession 
 of this territory, and introduced our administrative machinery 
 into it, there can be no doubt that our rights and claims have 
 been perpetuated through our exercise within it of the duties 
 of naval police and of occasional jurisdiction. 
 
 In the time of the Grovernor mentioned above, that is, in 
 1839, a Grovernment expedition set out in the corvette Urania, 
 under the command of Captain Joiio Maria Ferreira do Amaral, 
 and ran aloDg the coast as far as Malemba, exercising control 
 and customs jurisdiction, and receiving import duties from the 
 ships and factories that it found at Ambriz and Kabinda. No 
 
56 
 
 difficulty or protest was raised, and tlie sovereign autliority of 
 Portugal met with general recognition. In Kabinda, the regula 
 of which still continued to % the Portuguese flag, the expe- 
 dition examined the ruins of the old fort, and it was suggested 
 to the G-overnor of Angola that it should be rebuilt. The native 
 chief or Mambuko, of Malemba, came down to the port- of Kabinda 
 to receive the instructions of the Portuguese commander, for 
 transmission to his kinof.* 
 
 Captain TucJcey^s Convention, 1839. 
 
 When Capt. W. Tuckej, E.N., proposed to the G^ovemor-Gren- 
 eral of Angola to co-operate with him in the suppression of the 
 slave trade on the northern coast, the Portuguese authorities 
 acceded to this proposal ; but the convention of the 29th May, 
 1839, which was to give effect to this arrangement, expressly ad- 
 mitted with reference to the vessels at the disposal of Portugal, 
 that "they are by themselves sufficient to arrive at the desired 
 " object," and that the coast from Malemba to the eighteenth 
 degree of south latitude should be respected as a Portuguese 
 dominion. Such were the terms exacted by the Portuguese 
 Grovernment, and they affirmed our rights of sovereignty in the 
 most positive manner, and showed our firm resolution to cause 
 them to be respected. Its terms, at the same time, refute the 
 assertion of Lord Palmerston, who accused us of not acting with 
 sufficient energy in suppressing the slave trade. And although 
 this convention was never ratified b}" the English Grovernment,, 
 there can be no doubt that it affords further testimony and 
 solemn affirmation of our right s.f 
 
 Re-assertion of Portuguese Claims, 1843-1855. 
 
 It would be trespassing on our readers' indulgence were we to 
 enumerate all the visits which our cruisers paid to the Congo 
 and the neighbouring ports, and when their commanders exercised. 
 
 * Arcli. doMin. da Mar. e Ultram. f Ananias: Eights of Portugal, 1840. 
 
solemnly and in the face of the public an authority dictated 
 by considerations of humanity, but as well as the positive 
 functions of sovereign jurisdiction. On this point, as on many 
 others, we should only be embarrassed to choose from among the 
 numerous facts showing the continuity and the irrefutable 
 maintenance of our rights. We shall consequently cite only 
 a few of them. 
 
 On the 23rd of August, 1843, Captain John Foote, the 
 ■commander of an English cruiser, proposed to the Grovernor of 
 Angola the signature of a treaty between Portugal and England 
 on the one hand, and the king of Congo on the other, for the 
 abolition of the trade in negroes. As commander Foote 
 declared himself ignorant of the northern boundaries of our 
 province the Grovernment of Loando declined his singular proj)osi- 
 tion, and informed him that the Portuguese territory extended 
 to Molembo inclusive, and that the king of Congo, by his 
 position as a Portuguese vassal, was debarred from entering 
 inta international engagements, his territory being (as it still 
 is) an integral part of ours.* 
 
 On the 25th of June, 1848, England offered to the Portuguese 
 Government the assistance of her forces for the destruction of 
 the slave depots of Ambriz and Ambrizette, and a similar 
 offer was made, on the 1st November, by the commander of an 
 English squadron, to Manuel Thomas da Silva Cordeira, captain 
 of the corvette Oito de Julho. In both cases the representa- 
 tive* of Portugal declined the proffered co-operation, objecting 
 that Portugal had no need of foreign aid in enforcing the 
 control of her own territories, and that the Grovernment had 
 already, on the 22nd March, 1847, issued orders for the destruc- 
 tion of the said depots, orders which were carried into effect 
 in the following year by the Portuguese naval forces.f 
 
 We shall not do more than allude to the military re-occupa- 
 tion of Ambriz ; which, however, led to the production of two 
 
 ♦ Corvo : Neg. ext. — Doc. apres. is Cortes, 1876. 
 t Arch do MId. da Mar,— Corvo. Neg. ext. 
 
58 
 
 works of truly fundamental importance, and which are decisive 
 as regards Portuguese rights over the territories comprised 
 between lat. 5° 12', and lat. 18° S. These works have been 
 translated into several languages, and an ignorance, feigned or 
 real of them, is a poor certificate for those who would contest 
 our rights. We speak of the memoirs of the Viscounts of 
 Santarem and Sa da Bandeira; the first, one of the most 
 learned and trustworthy writers on the Historical Geography of 
 Africa ; the second a statesman of the highest eminence, who 
 has rendered the greatest services to the cause of anti-slavery.* 
 
 English Opposition to the Occupation of the Congo, 1846. 
 
 We ought not, however, to go further without mentioning 
 that in 1846 the opinion of the English Grovernment or of its 
 representatives commenced to become inimical to the proposed 
 occupation and to the effective exercise of Portuguese authority 
 to the north of lat. 8° S. They did so, as we shall presently 
 see, in virtue of a new interpretation of the treaties of 1810, 
 1815, and 1817, deceived probably, as were the French in the 
 affair of Kabinda, by the self-seeking and malevolent 
 suggestions of certain traders established on this coast. 
 
 It is from this year 1846 that the Congo question, in its 
 diplomatic aspect, dates as far as we are concerned. 
 
 The scruples and the fears, quite destitute of foundation, of 
 a friendly nation to which we had been allied for centuries, 
 which had with us initiated the campaign against the slave trade, 
 and had shared with us the possession of a great part of the 
 African continent, had led the Portuguese Grovernment to 
 abstain, through courtesy, from occupying certain points on the 
 coast, although not only the national interests, but even the 
 cause of humanity and the security of legitimate commerce, 
 cried more and more loudly for the adoption of this measure. 
 
 * Santarem, Demonstration des droits qui a la couronne de Portugul, &c. 
 1855. — Sa de Bandeira, Faitset considerations relatives aux droits du Portugal, 
 1865. 
 
69 
 
 But until the British Grovemment recognised the injustice and 
 the unfounded nature of its objections, essentially prejudical as 
 they were to African civilization and to the commerce of the 
 whole world, Portugal could do no less than to assert energetic- 
 ally her rights, and to oppose to British unreasonableness the 
 claims of honour, and of the great abolitionist cause, to which 
 she had lent her support and her loyal adhesion. 
 
 The Occupation of Ambriz, 1855. 
 
 And thus it happened that on the 20th January, 1855, 
 positive orders were given to the Grovernor of Angola to occupy 
 that haunt of slave traders, Ambriz. The military force detailed 
 for this service was sent on board of the frigate Don Fernando 
 and the polaca Esperanza. 
 
 On the 23rd January of the same year Jose Baptista 
 d'Andrade, an officer of the navy, was appointed Grovernor of 
 Ambriz. He received orders, on the 24th of June, to defend 
 himself vigorously against whosoever attempted to dislodge 
 him. The Portuguese Grovemment was not disposed to tolerate 
 a repetition of the state of things which had arisen with the 
 French at Kabinda, but at the same time it gave instructions 
 that the liberty of legal legitimate commerce should be 
 respected, thus proving once more the sincerity of its inten- 
 tions, and the slight foundation there was for the malevolent 
 intrigues of foreign traders. 
 
 On the 1st September, 1856, again referring to certain 
 protestations of these traders, unhappily backed up by certain 
 English officers, the Portuguese Grovemment informed the 
 authorities of Angola " that it was positively resolved not to 
 " desist from maintaining its rights, as defined in the constitution 
 " of the State," to the coast as far north as lat. 5° 12' S. 
 
 At this epoch the establishment of an official factory on the 
 Congo was again recommended. By ordinances of the Grovernor- 
 Gfeneral of Angola, dated the 26th December, 1856, the'district 
 
60 
 
 of Bembe (or Don Pedro V.) was annexed to the new district of 
 Ambriz, which already included the coast from the mouth of the 
 Lifune northward to the Congo. 
 
 Kabinda, 1853-55. 
 
 In 1853 the English attempted to induce the regulo of 
 Kabinda to recognise the sovereignty of their nation over his 
 territory, but met with a decided refusal. In concert with 
 other regulos that ruler declared at Loanda that the ancient 
 Portuguese sovereignty was the only one recognised in that 
 region. 
 
 Several Portuguese vessels were sent to this coast, and on 
 26th of November of the same year the honorary rank of 
 Lieutenant-Colonel was conferred upon the regulo referred to. 
 This chief, by name Francisco Franque, had travelled in 
 Europe, and was a person of some education. He has since 
 been succeeded by Manuel Puna, likewise a Portuguese 
 subject, upon whom our Government has conferred the title 
 of Baron of Cabinda, and who has always acknowledged himself 
 to be a vassal of Portugal. 
 
 It may be as well to add that all papers relating to the coast- 
 ing trade, as well as the certificates of the Cabindas who serve 
 on board coasting vessels, are oJBBcially made out in the name 
 and by the authority of the Portuguese Government. 
 
 Up to 1855 the passports of the coasting vessels which fre- 
 quent the Congo and Kabinda were made out by the Francisco 
 Franque of whom we have already spoken, by virtue of the 
 authority conferred upon him by the Portuguese Governor, but 
 a decree of the 24th November of that year abolished this prac- 
 tice, and it was ordered that, in view of English protests, these 
 passports should thereafter be signed by the Governor of Loanda. 
 
 Ponta de Banana, 1853. 
 
 In 1853, in consequence of some misunderstanding which 
 had arisen between the European merchants established at the 
 
61 
 
 Pont a de Banana and the native chiefs, the brig Carimba, 
 commanded by Lieutenant Jose Baptista d'Andrade, was sent 
 to restore order. The chiefs concerned renewed their vas- 
 salages to Portugal, and the commander, having decided the 
 various disputes and secured the parties guilty of outrages, 
 prepared and sanctioned an agreement between the merchants 
 and the native proprietors of the land on which the factories 
 were built. The parties to this agreement bound themselves 
 to refer all future disputes to the Grovernor-Greneral of the 
 province, who was at the same time requested by the merchants 
 to watch over and protect by means of a Portuguese war vessel 
 the trading establishments of Porto do Lenha, Bomma, Chengo, 
 Granze, Fetish Kock (Pedra do Feitipo), Kabinda, &c., all of 
 which were acknowledged to lie within the territory amenable 
 to Portuguese jurisdiction.* 
 
 The commerce of the river continued to be carried on, then 
 as now, almost exclusively by or through the Portuguese, and 
 the language of Portugal was that employed in all dealings 
 with the natives, who called it "Lingua de Branco" — the 
 language of the whites — "white" with them being but a 
 synonym for Portuguese. 
 
 Malemba, 1854. 
 
 In 1854, on the occasion of the solemn and public renewal at 
 Loanda of the vassalage of Malemba, the G-overnor-General of 
 Angola bestowed on the king of that territory the post of 
 Colonel, and on his principal macotas certain other titles. This 
 act was approved by the Portuguese Grovemment in a royal 
 ordonnance of the 25th May, 1855. On the same occasion, at 
 the request of the native regulo, the idea of erecting a fort at 
 Malemba and establishing there a Portuguese resident, was dis- 
 cussed. The Government, however, adjourned this project, but 
 recommended that the interior of the country should be 
 
 *For coi^ies of these agreements see Boletim Lisbon Geogr. Soc. iii. pp 39C — 396. 
 
 c 2 
 
62 
 
 explored, and that a salary or pension should be granted to the 
 regulo in his capacity of Grovernor of the district in the name 
 of the King of Portugal.* 
 
 Further Acts of Sovereignty on the Congo, 1855-57. 
 
 In 1855, fresh dissensions, followed by outrages, having 
 broken out, the Villa-Flor and Don Fernando were sent to 
 the^Congo under the command of Antonio Augusto d'Oliveira. 
 The Eegulos submitted, and the Portuguese commander, after 
 having established order, amplified the convention of 1853. 
 He obliged the merchants and natives to accept a code of 
 " customs " in their trading transactions, which he forwarded to 
 Loanda, in order that it might be approved by the Grovernor of 
 the province.! The results of these two Portuguese expedi- 
 tions are very interesting, for they determine the initiation in 
 due form of the system still in force for controlling the 
 commerce and European establishments on the Congo. It 
 must be pointed out that, far from any distinction being made 
 between Portuguese and foreign commerce, equal protection 
 was^extended to both, and the natives were made to understand 
 that the Portuguese flag and authority were a safeguard to all, 
 without distinction. Indeed, one of the episodes of this 
 campaign was the severe punishment inflicted on those who had 
 attacked an English factory. 
 
 In 1856 a false report was circulated at Loanda, to the effect 
 that an English war vessel had planted its flag as a symbol of 
 possession, on the territory of Kabinda. The brig Yilla-Flor 
 was immediately despatched thither, with instruction to re- 
 establish and maintain the Portuguese sovereignty, which, 
 however, it found perfectly resj)ected. 
 
 In 1857, the same brig accompanied by the schooner Cabo 
 Verde set [sail for the Congo, in order to punish certain 
 Musorongos, and to protect from their attacks the European 
 
 * See Boletim Lisbon Geogr. Soc. iii. p. 387-390. f Ibid, iii. pp. 396-403. 
 
63 
 
 merchants. Several regulos on the coast renewed their vassalage, 
 and, by royal ordinance of the 23rd June, 1857, the Portuguese 
 G-overnment approved the action of the expedition, and directed 
 that a man-of-war should be permanently stationed in the Congo, 
 whose commander should exercise the functions of chief of the 
 district. Another ordinance of the same year approves of an 
 expedition of the schooner Cabo Verde, which had resulted in 
 the destruction of the factories at Cabeca da Cobre, where the 
 slave trade had been actively pursued. 
 
 By an ordinance of the 20th July, 1857, the Grovernor of 
 Angola is informed that an ecclesiastic, Manuel Marques 
 Eangel de Campos, had been appointed to preach the gospel at 
 Santo Antonio, in Sonyo, at Porto do Lenha, Kabinda and 
 Malemba. But it is not our intention to enlarge on the 
 question of missions and missionaries. We will merely mention 
 that, by an ordinance of the 24th August, 1857, it was directed 
 that the Portuguese chapel of St. Antonio should be rebuilt, 
 ■and that another should be founded in the territory of Chi- 
 melico. 
 
 The Grovernor of Angola having conceived the idea of a military 
 occupation of Ambrizette, the home government directed him 
 on the 5th of October of the same year to adjourn this project 
 until further orders. 
 
 Let us, however, cut short this recapitulation of facts, which 
 amply proves our claim to jurisdiction over the Congo to be 
 well founded, and to be based upon a series of acts described in 
 public documents, w^hose trustworthy character has never yet 
 been denied. Let us remember, at the same time, that many 
 of these acts were the result of the solicitation of foreigners, 
 and met with the approval of their Grovernments. 
 
 Recent events in the Kingdom of Congo and occupation of 
 San Salvador, 1859-60. 
 
 Our Sovereignty over Congo proper, can scarcely be said to 
 liave been questioned in Lord Clarendon's Note of the 26tli 
 
64 
 
 Kovember, 1853, for he merely denies our claim to the "tribes 
 living along the coast, between 5° 12' and 8® 5\ Still, it may 
 be opportune to present our readers with a few more facts 
 relating to the King of Congo, who, in a letter dated the 16th 
 August, 1855, warmly congratulated the Grovemor of Ambriz, 
 upon his occupation of that point, and approved of the punish- 
 ment inflicted upon its native chief. 
 
 In 1859 a serious revolt, headed by a pretender to the throne 
 and a pronounced enemy of the whites, convulsed and ravaged 
 all the Congo region. The insurgents had so far made way as 
 to have taken possession of San Salvador, the native capital. 
 
 A Portuguese detachment, commanded by Captain Zacharias 
 da Silva, set out from Bembe, and nine days afterwards, that is 
 to say on the 25th June, entered San Salvador, and establishing 
 itself at Mbanza-a-Puto it commenced vigorously to punish the 
 rebels. 
 
 A second and more important expedition was at the same 
 time organised under the orders of Captain Jose Baptista 
 d'Andrade, ex-governor of Ambriz. It was formed in two 
 columns, the first commanded by Major Theotonio Maria 
 Coelho Borges and the second by Major Eoberto dos Santos. 
 
 Setting out on the 19th August, 1860, the first column- 
 defeated the insurgents on the Loshe, arrived on the 30th of 
 the month at Bembe, attacked and cut to pieces at San Salvador 
 the principal rebel forces, with their chief Dongo, and re- 
 established on the throne the legitimate king or muene, a 
 vassal of Portugal, who had adopted the name of his suzerain 
 monarch Don Pedro Y. The second column having shortly 
 afterwards arrived, and the country being pacified and submissive,, 
 Jose Baptiste d'Andrade (who was from that time forward known- 
 and respected by the natives under the name of the " quiambo " or 
 strong man) withdrew from San Salvador with the greater part 
 of his forces on the 19th November, 1860. He had almost com-- 
 pleted the construction of a fort, and left behind him a garrisonj 
 of 300 men under the command of Captain Ventura Jose. 
 
65 
 
 Were it not that the Portuguese Grovernment, feeling secure in 
 its rights, wished to give proof of courtesy and good feeling in 
 avoiding any semblance of friction with such a friendly state and 
 ancient ally as Great Britain, the Portuguese forces, instead of 
 retiring by way of Bembe could have marched on Noki, or any other 
 point on the Congo. In such a case the probabilities are that 
 we should have had a repetition of what had taken place at 
 Ambriz, under the direction of the same commander, ' and the 
 military occupation of the great river would have become an 
 accomplished and irrevocable fact. 
 
 Diogo Cam's Pillar Restored, 1859. 
 
 As we have elsewhere said, the monument erected on the 
 Congo by Diogo Cam, in 1484, was destroyed, according to some 
 by natural causes, or, if tradition can be believed, by the 
 Dutch, who overturned it in the 17th century. By a royal 
 ordinance of the 25th September, 1858, the Portuguese 
 Oovernment caused a new monument to be erected on the site 
 of the former one. For this purpose the corvette Groa was sent 
 to the spot, and on the 3rd September, 1859, the establishment 
 of a new symbol was, with all due official formality, proceeded 
 with. 
 
 The new inscription called to mind that Diogo Cam had dis- 
 covered the Congo and adjacent coasts, " of which he took 
 possession in the name of the king of Portugal." Thus was 
 honored the glorious memory of the explorer, and again 
 affirmed our long-continued sovereignty. 
 
 Recent Proceedings on the Congo, 1869 — 1882. 
 
 In 1869, a new Portuguese expedition, composed of the 
 -corvette Saques and the gunboat Guadiana sailed for the 
 Congo to punish severely the savages of Fetish Kock, who had 
 been guilty of outrages on commerce. On this occasion the 
 " Gruadiana " ascended as far as M'Boma. 
 
 In 1876 the English and Dutch consuls at Loando gave 
 information to ihe Governor of Angola respecting certain. 
 
66 
 
 atrocities that had been committed in the Congo by European 
 Dierchants — some of whom were of their nationality — and 
 asked for the intervention of the Angola government. Two 
 ships of war were accordingly sent, on one of which was a com- 
 mission of Loando Magistrates, who proceeded to Porto da 
 Lenha and to M'Boma and instituted the necessary investiga- 
 tions, ordering the arrest of the accused. The crime alleged 
 was the execution of several natives by two Portuguese, an 
 Englishman, and a Dutchman, who were tacitly encouraged by 
 some English, Dutch and Belgians, these declaring that, in the 
 absence of regular authorities, they were often forced, for the 
 protection of their lives and their goods, to take the law into 
 their own hands. 
 
 The proceedings were conducted before the Portuguese 
 magistrates, whose authority was not questioned. If we mention 
 this fact it is, above all, to make clear once more how deplor- 
 able, how inhuman, and opposed to civilisation, is the opposition 
 at various times manifested against the establishment in the 
 Congo of a permanent and effective legal system, a system 
 which we alone have the right to introduce, and which we alone 
 can create with efficacy, and in a manner tending to general 
 security. The present state of things is profitable only to crafty, 
 covetuous, and cruel adventurers. Civilisation and honest trade 
 suffer enormously from it, despite the continual and laborious 
 efforts that we put forth to protect and develope them. Quite 
 recently we have been obliged to send a naval expedition to 
 Ponta Negra (4° 49' S.) to punish certain natives for their evil 
 doings, and to protect the established factories of different 
 nations. 
 
 Portuguese Protests against Infringements of her Sovereignty. 
 
 Our long-continued exercise of sovereignty in these regions 
 is still further corroborated by the positive and formal protests 
 that we have never ceased to make, whenever an infringement 
 of our sovereignty was threatened. It will be sufficient to 
 mention several of the most recent instances. 
 
In 1853 Portugal complained to the English Grovernment of 
 the unjustifiable proceedings of the commander of the 
 "Harlequin," who had attempted to compel the regulos of 
 Kabinda, etc., by menaces and by bribes, to sign certain con- 
 ventions, without the knowledge or consent of the Portuguese 
 authorities. Lord Clarendon assured our representative that 
 the English Grovernment not only respected the rights of the 
 crown of Portugal and the commerce of our country, but that 
 it was furthermore willing to lend its aid in causing them to be 
 respected by whomsoever it might be. 
 
 In 1855, Portugal again made complaint concerning a 
 treaty which the English Captain Need claimed to have made 
 with the so-called Queen of Ambrizette. A minute inquiry 
 held at Loanda, together with the formal declarations of the 
 said queen and of her macotas, proved beyond a doubt that 
 not one of them had ever heard of the said convention, which 
 had been merely forged by certain individuals having no 
 •authority or representative character of any kind. 
 
 On the 4th December, 1875, the Portuguese Grovernment 
 complained in London of the proceedings of an English squad- 
 ron under the command of Commodore Hewett, who had 
 believed himself authorised, without the authority of the 
 Portuguese government, to pursue and punish, in the waters of 
 the Congo, some pirates who had attacked a British ship. 
 Information of such attack had been previously communicated 
 by the English consul to the Grovernor of the province. 
 
 If it were necessary to examine on this point the history of 
 past centuries we should be in a position to cite a number of 
 similar protests which, on the strength of our exclusive 
 sovereignty on this coast, we have laid before foreign govern- 
 ments, from whom we have always received complete satisfac- 
 tion and recognition of our rights, and of the justice of our 
 cause. These indeed cannot be considered either exceptional 
 or privileged, inasmuch as they constitute a natural right be- 
 longing to every sovereign and civilized state, a right which all 
 states recognise and defend. 
 
68 
 
 These conrJderations lead us naturally to tlie question of 
 international recognition, implied and expressed, of our 
 dominion. Before, however, concluding this part of our state- 
 ment, we wish to put on record two facts which come in quite 
 a propos for our question. 
 
 The Forhigese Delegates at the Paris Congress of Commercial 
 Geography, 1878. 
 
 At the time of the Universal Exhibition of 1878, there was 
 assembled at Paris, under the immediate patronage of the 
 French Grovernment, an International Congress for the Pro- 
 motion of Commercial Greography. At this Congress were 
 represented, by special delegates, several foreign Grovernment s^ 
 as well as the principal scientific and commercial institutions of 
 various countries. 
 
 At the General Meeting presided over by the Belgian 
 delegate, one of the sections submitted a resolution suggesting 
 the adoption of combined and vigorous action on the part of 
 the several Governments, of the Chambers of Commerce, and 
 of the Geographical Associations, for the exploration of the basin 
 of the Congo. 
 
 This resolution, as originally worded, and not as published 
 since, embodied and dealt with the question of the control and 
 international protection of our great African river. Immediatel}' 
 on its submission to the Congress, a delegate from the Govern- 
 ment of Portugal objected that such a proposition was of purely 
 political character, and attacked the indisputable rights of 
 Portugal on the Congo. He further declared that if such a 
 resolution were even admitted for discussion, the Portuguese 
 representatives would immediately retire from the meeting, 
 inasmuch as they could not sanction by their presence any 
 discussion which aimed at an interference with the colonial 
 policy of Portugal, and of the administration of its colonies. 
 
 The Commissioner-General of the French Government, the 
 Marquis de Croisier, instantly proposed that the resolution 
 
69 
 
 should be withdrawn, " in deference to the scruples of the 
 " Portuguese delegates." 
 
 All attempts at compromise were unavailing. The Portu- 
 guese representative maintained his original position, and 
 declared that he would not be able to discuss a proposition which 
 .Slimed at superseding the authority of Portugal on the Congo. 
 
 The resolution was referred back to the section by which it 
 liad been proposed, and was finally withdrawn without having 
 .been discussed.* 
 
 Mr. Stanley and the Lisbon Geographical Society. 
 
 In 1880 the Secretary of the International African Asso- 
 ciation, founded by the King of the Belgians, communi- 
 cated, by order of that monarch, to the Greographical Society of 
 Lisbon the details of the new expedition of Mr. Stanley to the 
 Upper Congo. 
 
 In reply, the bureau of the Society sent, on the 20th 
 November of the same year, the following letter : 
 
 " We received timely intimation of Mr. Stanley's project and 
 " have watched the course of his bold attempt with the interest 
 " which it so naturally awakens. We have not up to the 
 " present had any direct communication from Mr. Stanley any 
 "more than from the Association of capitalists and philanthropists 
 "which you represent, although their projects, more or less 
 " known, concern regions which have been incontestably 
 '" dependencies of the Portuguese crown since their first discovery 
 ■" in the 16th and 17th centuries. 
 
 " It is evident that this attempt can have no serious or 
 " practical success without the sanction"of Portugal, and without 
 " a proper understanding concerning her rights and her interests, 
 *' but Portugal has never refused her support to any non- 
 " political enterprise, which, while not clashing with her 
 " sovereignty, might co-operate with her in promoting the two 
 "objects for which she has ever striven and made continuous sacri- 
 " fices, namely, the exploration and the civilization of Africa." 
 
 * Minist. de rAfrique et du Commerce, Congres intern, de Geogr. Coram. 1881. 
 
70 
 
 iy._THE EIGHTS OF POETUaAL AS EECOONIZED 
 IN TEEATIES. 
 
 Papal Bulls and the Treaty of Tordesillas, 
 
 We have been able to dispense with a consideration of those 
 historic rights, which are very justly held to be the founda- 
 tion of the lawful exercise of a state's sovereignty in cases 
 such as that with which we now deal ; and we might abstain from 
 any references to the international testimony of former days to 
 corroborate the present legitimacy of the rights of Portugal to 
 the south of the Equator. 
 
 We shall not call to our aid those famous pontifical Bulls,, 
 now held in such slight estimation, which divided the world 
 between Portugal and Spain, and charged these states with the- 
 duty of spreading civilization and the Christian faith. Yet are 
 these famous Bulls, as well as the celebrated Treaty of 
 Tordesillas, documents perfectly in accord with the spirit and 
 with the laws of the age in which they were promulgated.. 
 They were indeed the outcome of that spirit and those laws,, 
 and bear witness to the actual condition of affairs then 
 prevailing. 
 
 Even to-day two States might adopt a meridian for the time- 
 at which their commercial and political influence is to stop, 
 just as a parallel has of late been adopted in several instances 
 as a suitable political boundary. 
 
 The famous treaty above referred to was simply such an 
 understanding. As a further guarantee, mutually recognised 
 
71 
 
 and acted upon, the contracting parties from time to time sub- 
 mitted their differences to be arbitrated upon by the Pope and 
 to be settled by Papal Bulls. This was notably the case in the 
 treaty of the 28th April, 1529, which confirmed that of 
 Tordesillas, and which was made between the emperor 
 Charles Y. and Portugal, that is to say between the representa- 
 tive of the most powerful continental empire of Europe, and the 
 greatest maritime and colonial State of the age. 
 
 These Pontifical Bulls have thus, in relation to those times, 
 a juridical and historical character of the highest importance. 
 The voice and authority of the supreme head of the church 
 were respected more widely, exercised a more powerful influence 
 upon the conscience of man in those days than did the com- 
 mands of all the secular powers combined. 
 
 We shall limit ourselves, however, to the reminder, that the 
 Bull of the 18th June, 1452, having recognised and approved 
 of the intention of the Portuguese Government to discover and 
 conquer for its use the kingdoms, principalities, and territories 
 called infidel, as well as the right to take possession of them 
 (which we may style the right of civilisation) the Holy See 
 recognised and ratified our sovereignty and our possession of the 
 coast, the islands, and the seas of Gruinea, and this recognition 
 was, by Bull of the 8th January, 1454, extended to all those 
 regions that we should discover subsequently : 
 
 " Sic que factum est, ut cum navis hujus modi, quam plures 
 portus, insulas et maria prelustrassent et occupassent ad 
 Guineam," &c. 
 
 This recognition of the fact and of the right of our dominion 
 over territories held by all Christian Europe to be res nullius — 
 that is to say, liable to become the legitimate property of the 
 first state which discovered and occupied them, is successively 
 confirmed and proclaimed by the Bulls of the 13th March, 
 1455, 21st June, 1481, 1st June, 1497, 3rd November, 1515. 
 
 We shall merely refer to one other, that of the 15th October, 
 1577, which recognises the Congo as a conquest and a 
 
72 
 
 dominion of Portugal. All subsequent Popes invariably adhered 
 to this interpretation, even when face to face with the represen- 
 tatives of the African Muene, as may be seen from the cele- 
 brated narrative of Duarte Lopes, who was one of them. 
 
 Tacit recognition of Portuguese Sovereignty by other States. 
 
 The extension of our sovereignty oyer the territories first 
 discovered by us, called forth no protest, either diplomatic or 
 otherwise. Of the different European nations some recognised 
 our sovereignty formally, and not one raised an objection. Some 
 of them made treaty arrangements with us, by which they 
 secured certain privileges, thus proving that their recognition 
 of our right was formal and beyond dispute. The most 
 characteristic and irrefutable argument in favour of our sove- 
 reignty is manifested in the rigid system of commercial monopoly 
 which we established and maintained during some centuries, 
 in conformity with the rights, the customs, and the politics of 
 the times. And it is precisely by their acceptance of this 
 system, or by their protests here and there raised against it, 
 that some of the principal po wers, such as France and England 
 for example, affirm the formal recognition of our full and 
 complete sovereignty over the African seas and territories. 
 
 It is needless here to enumerate in detail the protests 
 addressed by the Portuguese Grovemment to France and 
 England in consequence of violations of the laws which 
 excluded Portuguese, no less than foreigners, from the seas 
 and countries discovered by us, unless they had previously 
 obtained the authorization of our Government. We shall 
 merely give a few of the principal facts, perfectly conclusive as 
 regards international law. 
 
 Recognition by France, 1531-1538. 
 On the 6th September, 1531, the King of France directed 
 Admiral Brion to seize the cargo of a French ship which had 
 gone to Gruinea in derogation of the rights of Portugal.* 
 * Santarem, quad elem. 
 
73 
 
 By royal order of the 20th November of the same year, the 
 great Admiral of France stipulates that an embargo is to be 
 put on all French vessels which it is proposed to send to trade 
 either with Gruinea or Brazil, and that captains are to be 
 informed that the navigation of the seas and coasts of the 
 Portuguese possessions is forbidden to them. 
 
 On the 30th May, 1537, the King of France published a law 
 prohibiting his subjects from going in their ships towards Guinea 
 and other points of Africa, as being part of the dominions of 
 the King of Portugal. A like prohibition is found reproduced 
 in the royal edict of the 23rd August, 1537, and, on the 22nd 
 December, 1538, a new order declares that all publicity should 
 he given to the previous prohibition, and that a severe punish- 
 ment should be inflicted on all who broke through it.* 
 
 Recognition by England, 1501-1654. 
 
 Let us now see what was the procedure of England. 
 
 On the 9th December, 1501, Henry VII. granted letters 
 patent to Elliott Ashurst, of Bristol, and to Joao Gronpalves, and 
 Francisco Fernandes, of the Azores, to discover territories in the 
 northern and southern seas, and to plant thereon the English 
 flag; but they were distinctly forbidden to do this in the 
 provinces of savage regions already discovered by the subjects 
 of the Portuguese crown, the access even to such regions being 
 forbidden to them.f 
 
 This document in another respect affords striking endorse- 
 ment of the rights of the system which we had established, for 
 it declares that : " if in the future any foreigner, without proper 
 " authorization, navigates or sails to the regions discovered by 
 " the English expedition, he shall be attacked, expelled and 
 " punished, even if he should be the subject of a friendly king." 
 
 Long afterwards, during the negotiations of 1570, England 
 demanded of Portugal the prohibition to Portuguese ships and 
 
 * M.S. Cottouian collection, quoted by yantarcm, id. f Rymer, Fcedera. 
 
74 
 
 subjects of access to the Northern countries discovered by the 
 English at great cost, and at considerable risks and perils.* 
 
 On the 14th September, 1516, Henry YIII. presented and 
 recommended to the King of Portugal one of his subjects, John 
 "Walopp, explaining that Walopp had been fired with enthusiasm 
 by the conquests and discoveries of the Portuguese in Africa, and 
 begged, therefore, that he might be admitted to the Portuguese 
 service. The words employed by the English monarch are very 
 significant, and Santarem has already commented on them. They 
 were : — " Magnis dispendis magnaque suorum virtute ignotum 
 " antea orbem adaperuit et victricia Domini Dei nostri signa 
 *' per eadem vestram serenitatem immenso Oceani littore regnis 
 " ac populis subactis ad Kubram usque Mare perlata fuisse 
 " cognoverit." 
 
 On the 18th December, 1555, Queen Mary of England, 
 recognizing the justice and foundation of a complaint on the 
 part of the Portuguese Grovernment, informed it that she had 
 put a stop to a commercial exj)edition which was preparing to 
 sail for Western Africa, and that she had given orders for the 
 seizure of all merchandise already on board.! 
 
 In July, 1556, an edict of the same queen declared that "it 
 having come to her knowledge that certain English subjects 
 had gone to trade in Gruinea without permission from the King 
 of Portugal, and, taking into account the complaints of that 
 country, it was decreed, that under no circumstances should 
 such persons trade either directly or indirectly on any part of 
 the Portuguese dominions, and that all persons, ships, or mer- 
 chandise destined for such illegal expeditions should be forth- 
 with: seized.! 
 
 A like warning is conveyed in an edict of Queen Elizabeth, 
 dated the 24th April, 1561. On the 4th May of that year a 
 Koyal Ordinance was sent to the Lord High Admiral of England, 
 
 * Santarem, quad. ele. t. xv. 
 
 t fcantarem, quad. ele. xv. — F. L. de Sousa, Annses. 
 "MIS. Cottonian library, quoted by Santarem. 
 
15 
 
 instructing him to bring this prohibition to the memory of all 
 the maritime authorities. Soon afterwards another Ordinance 
 directed these authorities to take steps to prevent the Scotch 
 buccaneers from preying on Portuguese commerce. These 
 measures were communicated to the Portuguese monarch by 
 the Queen herself in a letter of the 22nd November, 1561.* 
 
 In June 1571, an adventurer named Grrenville succeeded, 
 after much difficulty, in obtaining from the English Grovern- 
 ment permission to undertake a voyage of discovery and ex- 
 ploration ; but this permission was granted only on the express 
 condition that he " was not to go for this purpose on the 
 ^' territories already visited by the Portuguese and the Spanish."! 
 
 On the 2nd of February, 1572, a Treaty of peace and 
 friendship was concluded between Portugal and England. 
 According to article 4 of this Treaty England engages " that 
 none of her subjects shall land on the territories or voyage in 
 the seas of the Portuguese conquests." They are only per- 
 mitted, as before, to sail to Portugal, Algarve, Madeira and the 
 Azores and to the Portuguese ports of Morocco. To the last 
 pait of the concession Portugal objected, and refused to ratify 
 the treaty, which was replaced by that of the 29th October, 
 1576, giving on the one hand the liberty of mutual trade only 
 as regarded Portugal, Madeira and the Azores, and, on the 
 other, only as regarded England and Ireland.J 
 
 In the treaty of the 29th January, 1642, between the same 
 states, it was declared that, failing the power to establish 
 thenceforward to the profit of the English free navigation and 
 trade "on the coasts and in the regions of Africa," the 
 ambassadors not having been invested with powers to that 
 effect, it should be understood that the English could continue 
 without hindrance on our part, to visit the territories, forts, 
 and castles, as well as the coasts of Africa, of Gruinea, of St. 
 
 * State Paper Office : Portugal, and MS. Cottonian Library, quoted by Santarem. 
 
 t La Motte Fenelon, Corres. dipl. xi. 
 
 X Cottonian Library MS. quoted by Santarem. 
 
76 
 
 Thomas, and other Portuguese dominions, to which it should be 
 proved that they had already by custom been permitted to 
 trade.* 
 
 Finally, by treaty of the 10th July, 1654, England solicited 
 and obtained from Portugal liberty of navigation in our do- 
 minions of America, India, Gruinea, St. Thomas, &c. 
 
 We believe this series of facts to be more than sufficient to 
 establish the constant tradition of international recognition of 
 the Portuguese sovereignty over the territories discovered, 
 explored, and acquired by us, setting out from Cape Branco, 
 lat. 20, 46 27 N., at which point Gruinea commences. These 
 territories have comprised, since the year 1484, those which, 
 from Loango to the 18th parallel, lat. S., form our present 
 province of Angola. 
 
 The Treaty of Paris, 1763. 
 
 But we shall add to our exposition several other testimonies, 
 all based on documents of a strictly international character. 
 
 On the 10th February, 1763, a treaty of peace was signed at 
 Paris between Portugal, England, France and Spain. In this 
 it was expressly stipulated that, as regarded the African 
 dominions of Portugal, if any alteration had been made therein, 
 all should be restored to the status quo ante. Now the previous 
 situation was such, in the region with which we are at present 
 chiefly concerned, that in 1758, shortly before the above-named 
 treaty, the law of Portugal declared Loango and Congo free and 
 open to the national commerce. 
 
 In 1700 our suzerainty of Congo was of such old standing, 
 and so thoroughly recognized, that by a royal letter of the 5th 
 March of that year the Portuguese Grovernment convoked at 
 San Salvador an assembly of the native rulers, or electors, to 
 proceed to the election of a Muene. A Portuguese detachment 
 was present at this ceremony to ensure its solemnity and 
 
 * Hertslet's Comp. Collection of Treaties, 1820. 
 
legality. It is unnecessary to add, that under the designation 
 of Congo and Loango, our documents always include, and 
 rightly so, Kabinda, or Angoy, as well as Kakongo, and Ma- 
 lemba, just as the generic title of "Gruinea," as we have 
 already pointed out, embraces all the possessions and cap- 
 taincies to the South of Cape Branco. 
 
 The French at Kahinda and the Treaty of Madrid, 1186, 
 
 We must now return to the question of Kabinda, which led, 
 on the part of France, to a new act of recognition of our 
 sovereignty. 
 
 As before observed, the Portuguese Grovernment had, in 1779, 
 ordered the construction of some small fortified posts on the 
 Congo, at Kabinda, and at Malemba, but in 1782 it was decided, 
 owing to the unhealthy climatic conditions of the other points, 
 to build the fort of Kabinda only. Now we have seen that in 
 1784, while this fort was in course of construction, a French 
 officer, M. de Marigny, caused it to be evacuated and 
 demolished, without however daring to take possession of this 
 Portuguese territory in the name of the King of France. 
 
 We may say in passing that, not only had no nation protested 
 against our proposed military occupation of Kabinda, but that 
 the Governor-General of Angola reported, on the 15th Decem- 
 ber of that year, that the English residing in the port had 
 welcomed the Portugese expedition. Even French writers, and 
 amongst others Flassan, the author of a history of French 
 diplomacy, avow that the act of Marigny, which went far 
 beyond his instructions, was prompted by a desire to re-establish 
 the slave trade, there carried on principally by the French, and 
 to which the Portuguese commander had manifested a decided 
 opposition. 
 
 The diplomatic question between the two sto^tes having been 
 put into shape, Spain undertook to act as mediator, and on the 
 30th January, 1786, the representatives of Portugal and of 
 
78 
 
 France signed at Madrid a convention in which the last-named 
 country declared " that the expedition which M. de Marigny 
 " had been charged was intended neither to disturb, to weaken 
 " nor to diminish the rights to w^hich his Most Faithful Majesty 
 " lays claim over the sovereignty of the Kabinda coast as form- 
 " ing part of the kingdom of Angola, and that consequently his 
 " Most Christian Majesty shall issue the strictest injunctions, 
 " so that his governors of the isles, his officers of marine and 
 " other subjects shall not, directly or indirectly, either with the 
 "natives of the country or in any other manner, raise the least 
 " obstacle, hindrance or difficulty to the said sovereignty or to 
 "its exercise." / 
 
 In presence of this distinct avowal and loyal apology, the 
 Portuguese plenipotentiary declared that his Grovernment 
 would not hesitate to permit and extend to other nations the 
 right of trading on the coast north of the Congo ; provided 
 always that this concession was not taken to extend either to 
 the river or to the part south of Cape Padrao, inasmuch as on 
 that side Portugal possessed — not only on the coast of Angola, 
 but also in the interior from the Congo to the E.N.E. and E. as 
 far as Kassanje, and in the south as far as the extremity of 
 Benguella — many regularly established districts, captaincies 
 and villages, which traded with the savage races, and of which 
 the sovereignty and the property alike belonged exclusively to 
 the Portuguese crown. 
 
 In view of this declaration, the French plenipotentiary 
 declared that his Government was perfectly agreed that the 
 slave trade south of the Congo should be rigorously interdicted 
 to French subjects. 
 
 To sum up, France recognised once more, and promised to 
 respect our political sovereignty, which had been arbitrarily 
 attacked by one of its officers in the interest only of the slave 
 dealers. 
 
 By thus acting, France retrieved her honour as a civilized 
 nation, while at the same time doing but a simple act of justice. 
 
79 
 
 for she could not then, any more than now, bring forward a 
 single acceptable or well-founded right either to the Congo and 
 the territories of Kabinda and Malemba (where, despite all her 
 efforts, her commerce is carried on under very pitiful con- 
 ditions, inferior to that of the other nations), or to the northern 
 coast as far as her modern settlement on the Graboon, a coast 
 over which we have established and maintained during several 
 centuries our effective dominion. 
 
 On the other hand, we accorded to France the privilege of 
 continuing the slave trade as far as the Congo, but on the 
 express condition that in the river, and on the part to the south 
 of it, this trade should be permitted neither to France nor any 
 other nation. 
 
 Portugal and the Slave Trade. 
 
 Since we are on the subject of the slave trade, we may be 
 permitted to meet a few of the numerous accusations and absurd 
 imputations, which, in direct defiance of history and of good 
 faith, have been levelled against us. 
 
 Not only were we the first to open the gates of Africa to 
 civilization and to science, but we were also the first to cause 
 the disappearance from modern society of the disgraceful traffic 
 of man in man. 
 
 To prove this it is only necessary to run the eye over our 
 legislation and the history of our colonies and to cause them to 
 be read by those who deny the existence of our rights, very 
 often without having taken the trouble to know or to study the 
 questions in which they engage. 
 
 Several centuries before Dr. Peckard, one of the first Eng- 
 lish Abolitionists, proposed to the University of Cambridge 
 (1785) the famous thesis ; " It is permissible to reduce another 
 "to slavery against his will?" long before Clarkson, the future 
 apostle of anti-slavery, had, at the cost of prodigious research, 
 answered the question in the negative, we were gradually resol- 
 ving our doubts on the question, and by royal edicts of the 
 
80 
 
 20th March, 1570, 11th November, lo95, 26th July, 1596, 
 5th June, 1605, 30th July, 1609, and 10th September, 1611, 
 had formally proclaimed "in the name of natural law" and 
 under the most severe penalties, the abolition of slavery and of 
 the slave trade amongst the natives of Brazil, declaring that 
 these natives were free and equal to other men, whether they 
 had already become Christians or whether they still lived in the 
 darkness of their savage state. 
 
 The charters (alvaras) of the 20th September, 1570, 19th 
 Februar3^, 1624, and 20th March, 1758, eloquently affirmed 
 that this doctrine was what should be followed in our relations 
 with the Japanese, the Chinese, and the native races of Asia. 
 
 In Africa we found this odious institution ingrained into the 
 manners, the beliefs, and, let us add, the wants of the people. 
 We believed it to be in our power to utilise this institution to 
 the benefit of European civilization ; but we strove at the same 
 time to modify slavery by dispelling its darkness, and making 
 shine upon and through it the beneficent light of instruction 
 and of the Christian faith, which was the only civilization of 
 the time. We sought to subdue this monster, as the trade is 
 called, by .[obliging it little by little to submit as much as 
 possible "to the precepts of reason and justice," in the ex- 
 l^ressive terms of the edict of the 18th March, 1684. 
 
 By charter of the 19th September, 1761, and ordinance of 
 the 2nd January, 1767, we abolished the trade in negroes on the 
 Portuguese markets in Europe, and proclaimed freedom to the 
 black and mulatto who should land on our European shores. 
 
 By edict of the 26th February, 1771, and 16th January, 1773, 
 we suppressed also the trade in Madeira and the Azores. We 
 had already struck at it two terrible blows by the royal letter 
 of the 7th P'ebruary, 1701, relative to the marriage of slaves, 
 and the edict of the 16th January, 1773, by which was abolished 
 as barbarous and anti-christian, the condition of freedman 
 (liberto) as known to the old Eoman law. 
 
 On the 24th November, 1813, amplifying the generous 
 
81 
 
 provisions of tlie memorable edict of the 18th March, 1684^, 
 concerning the transport of slaves, we explained that only the 
 dearth of labour and the scanty population of Brazil obliged us 
 still to tolerate that which the document styles " the arbitrary 
 proceeding " of the trade in slaves. 
 
 In conclusion, we shall merely add that on the 5th July, 
 1856, slavery was abolished by us in the undermentioned 
 territories of the province of Angola : 
 
 1st. — The district of Ambriz, from the river Lifune to 
 
 the Congo. 
 2nd. — The regions of Kabinda and Molemba. 
 
 Far from protesting against this new and solemn affirmation 
 of our sovereignty over these territories and this river, England, 
 onr faithful, but sometimes captious associate was certainly 
 grateful and flattered at the bold resolution that she saw us 
 take, and at the manner in which this measure was decreed and 
 put in practice. 
 
 The Treaty of Rio de Janeiro with England, 1810. 
 
 Let us return, however, to our subject. On the 19th 
 February, 1810, a new agreement was signed at Kio de Janeiro 
 between Portugal and England, ratifying previous conventions 
 and establishing joint action of the two countries for the 
 abolition of the slave trade. This agreement prohibits the trade 
 in slaves to Portuguese subjects " in any part of the coast of Africa 
 " not actually belonging to Portugal," where it may have been 
 already abandoned by other nations. It "reserves to them, 
 " however, the right to trade in the African dominions of the 
 " Portuguese Crown." 
 
 As, after the dispute with France to which we have already 
 made allusion, it might in some sort be supposed that this right 
 subsisted merely as regards the domination of the Congo, and 
 of the territory to the south of that river, this same treaty 
 formally stipulates that the northern territories shall be com- 
 
82 
 
 prised, for all the necessary purposes, in the dominions of the 
 Portuguese Crown. The document expressly sets forth as 
 follows: — "But it must be distinctly understood that the 
 stipulations " of the present article shall not be considered aS 
 invalidating " or affecting in any way the rights of the Crown of 
 Portugal " to the territories of Kabinda and Molembo." It is 
 thus evident to any impartial critic that England thereby fully 
 recognised the claim of Portugal to the territory to the north 
 of the Congo. 
 
 The Treaty of Vienna, '1815. 
 
 2 On the 22nd January, 1815, the two States signed at Vienna 
 a convention, of which Article 2 corroborates this affirmation of 
 our territorial rights. 
 
 By this convention it is stipulated that the necessary 
 measures shall be taken to ensure that Portuguese vessels 
 shall suffer no obstacle in trading South of the Equator, either 
 to the actual dominions of Portugal or to the territories " which 
 " are claimed in the said treaty as belonging to the said crown 
 " of Portugal." 
 
 It is well known how important are the locutions employed 
 in^documents of this nature, above all when it is sought to fix 
 and^define facts and rights of sovereignty. And moreover the 
 treaty of the 22nd January, 1815, was specially intended to fix 
 "the true intent and meaning" of the treaty of 1810. Now 
 the English verb " to claim " does not signify merely a 
 simple, possible or hypothetical intention. According to 
 Dr. Johnson " to claim " means to demand of right, to require 
 ^'(^authoritatively." It is the positive, formal affirmation of a 
 permanent right of anything as due. Far from combating this 
 affirmation, England acted according to its spirit in recognising 
 without any reserve that the system established extended to 
 the territories of Malemba and Kabinda. 
 
83 
 
 The Convention between England and Portugal of 1817. 
 
 In the convention of the 28th July, 1817, supplementary to 
 the treaty of 1815, between the same states, it is declared that 
 the territories in which the trade in slaves is still permitted to the 
 Portuguese (as belonging to the Crown of Portugal according 
 to the text of the Agreement of 1810) are, on the western 
 coast to the south of the equator, the following ; 
 
 1° The territory situated between parallels 8° and 18° 
 
 2° Those territories between parallels 5° 12' and 8° over 
 which Portugal reserves, or, to use a better term, conserves her 
 sovereign rights. 
 
 " To reserve," has always been the expression consecrated by 
 custom, it is the term officially in use. It really offers no 
 inconvenience of interpretation. "To reserve," signifies to 
 retain, to preserve, to keep for an ulterior purpose that which 
 one already possesses. Its English equivalents, according to 
 Johnson's Dictionary, are " to retain, to keep, to hold." How- 
 ever, the English text of the above-named convention, in seek- 
 ing the expression which shall most exactly render the positive 
 and juridicial sense of the words conservation, reservation, con- 
 tinuation of possession, &c., says " those territories over which 
 his most Faithful Majesty has retained his rights, namely, 
 Molembo and Cabinda." 
 
 In Dr. Johnson's Dictionary, the active verb " retain," is 
 defined as being equivalent to " keep," viz. : not to lose, not 
 to lay aside, not to dismiss, whilst the neuter verb has the 
 meaning of " to belong to," " to depend on." 
 
 It follows then that Portugal has declared her intention to 
 conserve, to maintain, to continueher rights to these territories, 
 and that the other contracting party, England, not only does 
 not contest, object, or make any reservation, but fully and freely 
 treats on the basis of this understanding. From this but one 
 deduction can be drawn, that the aforesaid territories come 
 within the regulations laid down for the others. 
 
84 
 
 No other treaty has invalidated the clear and positive 
 signification of those that we have enumerated. 
 
 The Treaty of Lisbon, 1838. 
 
 When in 1838, a new convention for the abolition of the 
 slave trade was being negociated in Lisbon, the ministers pleni- 
 potentiary of Portugal and of England were in agreement as 
 to the insertion of a clause by which Portugal declared to 
 maintain the reservation already made in the previous treaties 
 as regarded the territories comprised between lat. 5° 12' and 
 8° S. It was added, moreover that in no sense should it be 
 understood that Portugal renounced any rights which she might 
 have over any portion whatever of the African territory not 
 specified in the same article. This last declaration, which may 
 be regarded as understood in the preceding conventions, is 
 -enunciated in the Constitutional charter of the Portuguese 
 monarchy, communicated to all friendly Governments. It is 
 •entirely conformable to the determining principle of state 
 -sovereignty. 
 
 From all that we have laid before our readers it is easy to 
 •deduce that our historic right, founded on discovery, on first 
 occupation and on the implicit and explicit recognition of the 
 nations, can be affirmed to extend to the North of Malemba or 
 of parallel 5° 12', and to embrace all the territory situated between 
 that parallel and Cape Lopez ; a territory on which up to the 
 present day no other civilized nation has any known rights 
 which can be put into competition with ours. 
 
 As we have shown, it is not very long since Loango was still 
 a part of our province of Angola. 
 
 The Treaty of 1845 between England and France, 
 
 On the 29th May, 1845, France and England signed a treaty 
 having for its object the extinction of the slave trade. By this 
 it was decreed that a combination of naval forces of the twa 
 countries should operate in the waters of Western Africa, from 
 
85 
 
 Cape Verde to lat. 16° 30' south. The commanders of the 
 cruisers were empowered to negotiate treaties, wherever it 
 seemed advisable, with the native chiefs, but only with a view to a 
 suppression of the trade in slaves. They were also authorised, in 
 case of need, to employ force to compel the execution of such 
 conventions. 
 
 Without disobeying the spirit of this treaty, the two nations 
 could, on a case arising, come to an agreement to occupy by a 
 military force any point along the coast. 
 
 Linked with Portugal in the stubborn and sublime campaign 
 against the " trade," England communicated to the Portuguese 
 Grovernment the extraordinary compact that she had just made 
 with France. Now although the war declared against the slave 
 trade had assumed the character of a veritable crusade of 
 civilization, in which all nations lent a hand against the 
 traffickers and adventurers who had placed themselves outside 
 its newly-established law, and although England had even 
 wished to have the "trade" considered as actual piracy, it is 
 not the less doubtful whether the noble aim of the said Franco- 
 English convention justified, of itself, such an extraordinary 
 suspension of the principles and guarantees of international 
 laws. 
 
 Therefore, Portugal, whose honour and whose interests were 
 compromised could not do less than protest, which she imme- 
 diately did, against the violation of her territorial rights, rights 
 which, lacking further explanations, seemed to be seriously 
 imperilled by the treaty aforesaid. Eeplying, then, to the 
 communication of England, the Portuguese Government frankly 
 declared that it could only suppose that the dispositions of the 
 convention had no relation or application to the Portuguese 
 dominions, situated to the north and to the south of the Equator, 
 nor to those over which the Portuguese crown had reserved its 
 rights in the treaty of 1817. 
 
 The English Government, through Lord Aberdeen, replied, 
 and, referring to the ancient alliance between Portugal and 
 
86 
 
 England, and to the friendship which united the two countries, 
 passed a just eulogium on the services rendered by Portugal in 
 the suppression of the slave trade, " the first state," says the 
 English minister, " which joined her efforts to ours for this 
 " noble purpose." 
 
 He declares that the English Grovernment would be guilty of 
 an injustice towards Portugal if it hesitated to give at once a 
 full and free explanation of the several points of the Franco- 
 English convention, which had given rise to the observations of 
 the Portuguese Grovernment. 
 
 He solemnly declared, that the agreement as to the 
 operations of the naval forces of England and France on the 
 African coast, including therein that portion which is under the 
 dominion of the Portuguese crown, or over which the reserved 
 rights of Portugal have been " acknowledged," was in no way to 
 be understood as an attempt to infringe, in any degree whatso- 
 >ever, the rights of Portugal. 
 
 This was an admission that the convention in question was 
 not intended to affect Portuguese claims of sovereignty, or 
 to strike a blow at the most rudimentary principles of right 
 and of the mutual respect of nations. The stipulations of 
 the pact, alike in their conception and their execution, 
 naturally excluded the Portuguese territories, comprising 
 those " the reserved rights over which have been acknow- 
 ledged to Portugal." 
 
 Now let us see the meaning of this word " acknowledge." It 
 has three definitions : viz., to own the knowledge of; to own 
 anything or person in a particular character ; to confess ; and 
 to own. 
 
 The treaty of 1810 and its successors remained then intact, 
 nor have they been annulled or called in question down to the 
 present day. The convention with France could not be under- 
 stood " as invalidating or afifecting in any way the rights of the 
 Portuguese crown to the territories of Cabinda and Molembo," 
 in the words of the text of the first treaty. 
 
87 
 
 FortugaVs Claims disputed by England, 
 
 So far all was clear and precise, and there was no indication 
 of the spirit displayed in the singular hypotheses of the English 
 charge d' Affaires at Lisbon, Mr. Southern, who, in a note 
 addressed on the 24th November, 1846, to the Portuguese 
 •Grovernment respecting the condemnation in due form of a 
 Brazilian slaver, captured by a Portuguese cruiser to the north 
 of Ambriz, observes that England in the Treaties of 1815 and 
 1817, had merely acknowledged the Portuguese sovereignty 
 from the 8th to the 18th degrees of latitude South, and not the 
 rights that Portugal had retained to the territories between the 
 lat. 5° 12', and lat. 8° S. 
 
 The ambiguity was manifest, and the previous declaration 
 served only to accentuate and render this more evident. 
 
 But the British diplomatist added, that the communication 
 which he made in the name of his Grovernment was based on 
 a fear that the Portuguese assertion of exclusive territorial 
 possession to the north of the 8th parallel, might, if allowed to 
 pass unchallenged, work injury to a right which it was important 
 for England to maintain ; namely, the right of " unrestricted 
 intercourse " with that part of the coast. 
 
 Now it was not the first time that our rights of exclusive 
 territorial possession of these regions — "the reserved rights " 
 . . . "acknowledged to Portugal," to use the frank 
 and unmistakable language used by Lord Aberdeen — 
 had been asserted in the face of the world, without giving 
 rise to either objection or remark on the part of England. 
 If the observation of the British Government, through 
 Mr. Southern, could be taken to constitute an argu- 
 ment against the legitimacy of our rights, we might have replied 
 to it, as our readers know — by citing a number of much more 
 important and decisive acts than the capture of the Brazilian 
 slaver — some even of quite recent date — ^which had given rise 
 to no observation on the part of England. For example, why 
 had no objection sprung out at the time against our claimvS 
 
88 
 
 embodied in the treaties of 1810, 1815 and 1817, when Portu- 
 gal distinctly declared that she reserved or conserved her 
 rights, that she did not renounce but retained them, and when 
 England, far from raising any opposition, used these very claims 
 as a basis for negotiating the system of exception which was 
 established in these regions, thus considered as identified with 
 those Portuguese territories which were occupied in a per- 
 manent and effective manner? 
 
 Besides, the right of unrestricted communication for English 
 subjects with these territories, or for the subjects of any other 
 civiHzed state with no matter what part of Africa, did not then 
 exist, nor does it really exist to-day, in consequence of those 
 very treaties and conventions of which England has had the 
 glorious initiative. 
 
 Leaving aside for the moment the exercise of the sovereign 
 rights of different states, by which the communications with the 
 territories belonging to each of them are regulated, we desire 
 to point out that, in the particular case in question, communi- 
 cation was not and could not be "unrestricted" for either 
 Portuguese or foreigners. This result is practically due to the 
 noble and persistent action of England ; for in accordance with 
 the international treaties promoted by her, slave traders, for 
 instance, without distinction of nationality, are under the most 
 severe penalties forbidden to approach these coasts. 
 
 This intercourse was, and is in fact, confined to such 
 legitimate commerce as the states concerned looked upon as 
 not being contrary to the principles of civilization, or subversive 
 of the mutual respect which they owed to one another. 
 
 Now the observation of Mr. Southern had relation to the 
 capture and formal condemnation of a slave ship, and we may 
 thereupon remark that a vast mass of documents of English 
 origin, such as the reports of English cruisers, judgments of 
 courts of justice, protests and complaints of the British Grovern- 
 ment, go to prove that unrestricted intercourse with the 
 territories to which allusion has been made, and which it was 
 
attempted to defend and maintain, was and remained during a 
 long period the strongest and last bulwark of the slave trade. 
 
 The question thus raised between England and Portugal is 
 still in abeyance, to the no small injury of legitimate trade and 
 the interests of humanity. It calls for immediate settlement, 
 but as it has exhaustively been dealt with in documents acces- 
 sible to the public, we content ourselves with merely alluding 
 to its existence. 
 
 Mr. Southern's note was followed up by one of Lord Palmer- 
 ston, dated 30th November, 1846, in which the same hypothesis 
 was upheld with reference to the condemnation by a Portuguese 
 tribunal of a Portuguese slaver captured by one of our own 
 cruisers in lat. 7° 36' S. 
 
 It is very singular that the only protests made in modern 
 times against the exercise of our authority within the territories 
 in question — viz. the French protest of 1784, and that of 
 England in 1846 — should have been called forth by our active 
 interference with the proceedings of slave dealers. 
 
 This is all the more singular as none are likely to question 
 at all events England's sincerity in the noble efforts put forth 
 by her in the suppression of the slave trade. 
 
 Lord Palmerston^s Note of November 30th, 1846. 
 
 In Lord Palmerston's note, to which we have referred above, 
 the Portuguese Grovemment was informed that several of the 
 members of the mixed commission established at Loanda were 
 afraid that if Portugal "forced" her rights of sovereignty 
 between 5° 12' and 8° lat. S., grave prejudices might result to 
 the English subjects who were there trading with the natives 
 without paying duties to the Portuguese Grovemment. Lord 
 Palmerston therefore declared : 
 
 1st That, according to the treaty of 1817, Malemba is the 
 extreme northern point over which Portugal claims to 
 exercise rights of sovereignty not " actually " recognised 
 by England. 
 
90 
 
 2nd That Ambriz is the extreme northern point recognised 
 by that nation. 
 
 Now Ambriz, which had been re-occupied by us only a few 
 years before, is situated in lat. 7° 52/ that is to say 8 miles to 
 the north of the 8th parallel referred to in the above note and 
 in the treaty of 1817. When this was pointed out, the English 
 Ambassador at Lisbon was instructed to state, and did so on the 
 9th November, 1850, that Lord Palmerston had only learnt at 
 the close of the year 1847, through the British Commissioners 
 at Loanda, that Ambriz was situated to the north of the 8th 
 parallel. 
 
 The explanation is very curious,* for a reference to the English 
 admiralty charts would have at once shown the true situation 
 of Ambriz. But not only Ambriz but also our fort of S. 
 Jose de Encoge, built in 1759, and uninterruptedly occupied 
 since, lies to the north of this pretended northern boundary of 
 our dominions. 
 
 Lord Clarendon^ 8 Note of November 26th, 1853. 
 
 In the note of the 26th November, 1853, written by Lord 
 Clarendon, the English Grovernment says that it feels bound to 
 repeat its previous declaration, namely, that the interests of 
 commerce demand that England shall maintain the right of 
 " unrestricted intercourse " with that part of the western coast 
 of Africa situated between lat. 5° 12' and lat. 8° S. It must be 
 remarked, however, that England expressly recognises the right 
 acquired by Portugal, by priority of discovery, in the 15th 
 century, but she adds that this right has been " suffered tO' 
 lapse," seeingthat the Portuguese Grovernment had not occupied 
 the disputed uegion. 
 
 * Senhor Cordeiro will pardon us if we observe that the explanation offered was; 
 sincerely believed to be a truthful and honest one. Foreigners have no idea of 
 the ignorance and want of information to be found in some of our government 
 offices. A laughable instance of such offiicial ignorance occured only recently in 
 the House of Commons. Fancy the officials of a Foreign office appealing to the 
 Secretary of the Eoyal Gecgraphical Society for information on the position of 
 a town of Morocco when they had at their command the Board of Trade, the 
 Admiralty, and the Intelligence Department of their War Office ! — The Translator. 
 
91 
 
 English Argujnents refuted. 
 
 The facts opportunely recalled by the Portuguese G-ovem- 
 ment, the official and private statements and discussions which 
 this question has called forth, and the facts which we ourselves 
 have set forth in this " Statement, " categorically refute 
 the arguments put forth by England, even if they could be 
 upheld in the face of the principles and usages of inter- 
 national law, and in the presence of England's own action in 
 relation to extensive and important regions of which she claims 
 possession, but which she has never "occupied," that is, if 
 " occupation " is to be understood in the restricted sense of 
 actual, continuous, and permanent occupation. We have 
 occupied in as full, and even a fuller degree Loango, Malemba, 
 Kabinda, and the Congo, &c., as England has occupied the 
 Falkland Islands, many of the South Sea Islands, and a great 
 part of Africa and Australia, and as the United States, Brazil, 
 and the South American Eepublics occupy certain territories 
 recognised as belonging to them. France, Spain, Holland, and 
 other nations stand in the same position as regards much of 
 their colonial territory. We have actually occupied these 
 territories time and again, and we have always firmly main- 
 tained our right of possession. We have carried on commerce 
 within them, and exercised our rights of sovereignty and 
 jurisdiction; but if rights can spring only from occupation, why 
 is it that, while forbidden to occupy, we are denied our rights 
 on the ground that we have not occupied ? 
 
 It is clear that this question between the two nations has 
 arisen only in consequence of regrettable misunderstandings^ 
 and unfounded apprehensions. Frankly approached, and judged 
 of in the light of actual circumstances, this question merelj 
 involves an answer to two propositions, viz. : the true interpre- 
 tation of treaties, and the unrestricted intercourse of English 
 traders with the Portuguese territories lying to the north of the 
 8th parallel. 
 
92 
 
 " Unrestricted Intercourse " conceded by Portugal, 
 
 The question of " unrestricted intercourse " hardly needs to 
 be discussed, for Portugal fully concedes it in her own well- 
 understood interests as well as in her legislative enactments. 
 In 1839, when it was contemplated to build forts on the Congo 
 and to the north of it, Portugal frankly declared her intention 
 of recognising the " unrestricted intercourse." Even the Treaty 
 of Madrid, signed as long ago as 1786, expressly provides that 
 all nations alike should be permitted to hold free intercourse, 
 for all legitimate purposes, with those portions of the province 
 of Angola which were situated to the north of the Congo. 
 
 The system established at the time of our occupation of 
 Ambriz, the protection fully accorded by us to the trade on the 
 Congo and on the coast to the north of that river, the formal 
 instructions to this effect issued to our cruisers and our authori- 
 ties, the uniform and solemn declarations of our Grovernments, 
 and the essentially liberal character of our commercial system 
 as regards our colonies, do not permit of the slightest doubt as 
 to our intentions and our desires. 
 
 And if, as they made known to their Grovemment in 1845, 
 certain British subjects or others, established to the north of 
 Ambriz, pay no customs duties to the Portuguese authorities, 
 this very exemption carries with it grave inconveniences to 
 them, siuce it is certain that in these regions commerce finds 
 itself deprived of those guarantees which result from a regular 
 system of administration, of legality and of justice. It is 
 exposed to the extortions of the natives and to the repressive 
 measures which under such circumstances the Portuguese 
 Grovemment may be forced to adopt in the interests of its 
 own security, of humanity and of civilization. 
 
 It is quite true that the merchants pay no civilized Grovem- 
 ment in return for its protection, and for the maintenance of 
 order, or the administration of the law, but they are exposed 
 to the enactions of capricious savages, whose excesses only 
 
93 
 
 Portuguese authority and prestige are able to keep within 
 bounds. 
 
 That merchants pay no imposts is true enough, but on 
 the other hand they live beyond the pale of law. They are 
 liable at any moment to be robbed of their property, or to 
 expulsion from their factories, and this would undoubtedly 
 happen if the Portuguese were to withdraw from them the 
 shelter of their influence, and the aid so frequently afforded 
 them by their naval forces. 
 
 It is quite clear that such precarious conditions can not be 
 allowed to continue. They are quite incompatible with the 
 principles of international law, and injuriously affect the 
 progress of civilisation in Africa. 
 
 Surely England cannot seriously contemplate to sacrifice the 
 interests of humanity because the introduction of regular 
 government would necessarily render some contributions neces- 
 sary for its support ? We have no wish whatever of closing the 
 Congo against foreign traders. On the contrary, we should 
 like to attract to that noble river merchants of all nations, and 
 see commerce prospering and expanding under the sheltering 
 influence of our laws. This we do in our own interest, no less 
 than because it is our right. 
 
 The Interpretation of Treaties 0/I8IO, 1815 and 1817. 
 
 The question of the interpretation of the treaties is equally 
 simple. 
 
 The natural point of departure from which to arrive at the 
 solution so loyally and sincerely desired is undoubtedly the 
 treaty of 1810. This treaty simply says that the stipulations 
 by which Portuguese subjects are prohibited from carrying on 
 the slave trade on any part of the coast of Africa not actually 
 belonging to Portugal, are not to be considered as " in any way 
 " invalidating or affecting the rights of the Portuguese crown 
 " to the territories of Cabinda and Molembo." Now if these 
 dispositions neither invalidated nor affected our rights, it 
 
 D 2 
 
94 
 
 follows that these rights are maintained, that they exist, and 
 are legitimate, real and recognised. And this is so undoubtedly 
 true that, as regards the territories in question, the positive, 
 actual and practical outcome of a treaty made in restraint of 
 the slave trade is that they are placed on the same footing 
 with the others " actually belonging " to Portugal. It means 
 that Portuguese subjects may continue the slave trade at 
 Malemba and Kabinda, for they have " the right to trade in 
 " slaves in the African dominions of the Portuguese crown." 
 
 But why was this declaration made ? 
 
 The treaty itself tells us : — because France, in the recent 
 question of Kabinda (1784), had questioned the right of 
 Portugal : — " which right was hitherto disputed by France." 
 It was not England who disputed it, but only France, that is 
 clear. ]N'ow as France had recognised this right, and as it had 
 been agreed between that nation and us that she might con- 
 tinue to carry on the slave trade in these territories, it was 
 natural that the Portuguese should be permitted to enjoy the 
 same privilege. In their desire to avoid one ambiguity the 
 negotiators little thought that they were about to sow the seed 
 of others. 
 
 We have already explained the texts of the treaties of the 
 22nd January, 1815, and of the 28th July, 1817, which must 
 be interpreted in consonance wdth the treaty of 1810. 
 
 In the treaty of 1817 the territories within which Portuguese 
 subjects may continue to trade in slaves, in virtue of the 
 preceding treaties, are said to include — 
 
 10 The territory "possessed" by the crown of Portugal 
 . . . on the western coast, viz., " all that which 
 "is situated from 8° to 18° lat. S." 
 
 20 The coast to the south of the Equator over which 
 Portugal declares that she "retains her rights," 
 " namely the territories of Malemba and Kabinda," 
 from 5° 12' to 8° S. 
 
95 . 
 
 A " verbal mistake " had been committed in the text, by 
 which it was made to appear that these territories were situated 
 on the eastern coast, but this was corrected in an additional 
 declaration of the 30th April, 1819. A much more important 
 error, however, crept in, respecting the southern boundaries of 
 the territories in question. This was not, nor ever had been, 
 the 8th parallel, for the region of liabinda, Angoy or Ngoy, 
 has always been regarded as bounded by the Congo, and it was 
 so understood in the convention with France in 1 786. 
 
 The reservation of rights had relation solely to the territories 
 of Malemba and Kabinda in accordance with the previous texts, 
 and if it be true, as was said by Sir Hamilton Seymour, the 
 English ambassador, in his note of the 9th November with 
 respect to the mistake of Lord Palmerston regarding Ambriz, 
 " that a geographical error cannot be opposed with success to 
 " the terms of a treaty," then we may equally say that the error 
 committed in the treaty of 1817, with respect to the southern 
 boundary of Kabinda, did not authorise the interpretation put 
 by the eminent statesman on the said convention. 
 
 The treaty refers in very precise terms to " the territories of 
 " Malemba and Kabinda," but it very incorrectly describes 
 their boundaries. 
 
 As a matter of fact it was only Kabinda and Malemba, both 
 to the north of the Congo, which formed the subject of 
 discussion between Portugal and France, as may be seen by 
 reference to the treaty of 1810. 
 
 The rights of Portugal to the Congo river, and the territories 
 to the south of it, were not at all in question, and there existed 
 therefore no need to reserve rights which were being exercised 
 without objection from anyone. 
 
 It was England, in 1846, who first interpreted the treaty of 
 1817 in a sense which denied to Portugal the full recognition 
 of her rights over Kabinda and Malemba. But this interpreta- 
 tion is actually based upon a mistake on a question of geography, 
 which assumed that Kabinda and Malemba stretched south as 
 
96 
 
 far as lat. 8° S., whilst in reality these territories do not extend 
 beyond Ked Point, in lat. 5° 44' S., or at most as far as Banana, 
 at the mouth of the Congo. We ought to say that we have 
 not seen this fundamental objection reproduced in diplomatic 
 documents. 
 
 As regards the northern coast and the territories of Malemba 
 and Kabinda, the English interpretation appears to us to be 
 based on an evident misapprehension. If England is proved to 
 have recognised the claims of Portugal to these northern 
 territories, in a treaty which permitted the slave trade to be 
 carried on there, how can we suppose that she intended to deny 
 such recognition when it became a question of extending to 
 these same territories the blessings of civilization and regular 
 government ? 
 
 Besides, we have already shown that the treaty of 1810, 
 of which the treaties of 1815 and 1817 are merely a develop- 
 ment, does not confine itself to a declaration of the rights of one 
 only of its signatories. For it expressly stipulates that the 
 rights of Portugal over the territories of Malemba and Kabinda 
 shall not be affected " in any way." We insist on and adhere 
 to the English phrase, " in any way." 
 
 " In the slightest degree " are the words employed by the 
 English Grovemment in Lord Aberdeen's note of the 20th 
 September, already quoted, when reference is made to the 
 " reserved rights " which " have been acknowledged " as apper- 
 taining to Portugal with respect to the same territories. 
 
 We shall not here repeat the successive and formal recogni- 
 tions, or the treaties to which we have before made allusion, 
 recognitions and treaties which have not, down to the present 
 day, been either annulled or cancelled by any process known to 
 international law. But we cannot help recalling that it was an 
 English ambassador. Sir Charles Stuart, who, on behalf of 
 Peter IV., then in Brazil, presented to the regency of Portugal 
 the constitutional charter of the Portuguese monarchy, of which 
 charter article 2 declares that Kabinda and Malemba are Portu- 
 
97 
 
 guese territories. We may add that the English Grovemment 
 did all it could, even to the extent of sending an army into 
 Portugal, to maintain this constitution. 
 
 We have expatiated thus largely on this question because it 
 is to-day the only obstacle to the extension of Portuguese 
 authority over the Congo and the territories to the north of it. 
 
 From the moment that this question is approached with an 
 earnest desire to settle it in accordance with its true import, all 
 difficulties will disappear, and an agreement with respect to it 
 between two friendly nations, equally interested in the develop- 
 ment of Africa, should be easy of attainment. 
 
 The arguments which we have brought forward, and the facts 
 which we have adduced in the third part of this " Statement," 
 render it unnecessary that we should enlarge on the formal 
 recognition of Portuguese dominion, on innumerable occasions, 
 by the natives. 
 
98 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 In conclusion, we express our confident belief that we have 
 succeeded in demonstrating that the claims of Portugal to the 
 Congo and the territories to the north of it are based on justice. 
 
 We have shown that they are derived from discovery ; that 
 we have taken formal possession of the country ; that we have 
 occupied it, and exercised our jurisdiction there; and that our 
 claims have been admitted and recognised in treaties. 
 
 We maintain that our territory on the coast extends to 
 Malemba, or to lat. 5° 12' S., as defined in the constitutional 
 charter of Portugal. 
 
 At the same time, it is quite certain that we might success- 
 fully put forward claims to territories still further to the north, 
 and within which our authority has been recently exercised, 
 for our constitutional charter expressly reserves our right to 
 territories not expressly referred to. 
 
 At any rate, our claim reaches to lat. 5° 12', or rather to the 
 mouth of the Chiloango (Loange Lus) river, which forms the 
 boundary of Kakongo (Kabinda) in that direction. 
 
 As to the coast which extends thence to the French territory 
 of the Graboon, no civilised State has up till now put forward 
 any serious claims to it.* This coast, likewise, has been dis- 
 covered by us, and on various occasions in the course of the last 
 centuries we have exercised our authority there, and even 
 
 * This can be said no longer, for France, though recognising Portugal 1o 
 the south of lat. 5*^ 12' S., has laid claim to the whole of the coast to the north- 
 ward, and instructions have been given to M. de Brazza to occupy Ponta Negro 
 and Mayambe. (See our map). — The Translator. 
 
99 
 
 ♦ 
 founded settlements. It is clear, therefore, that our land 
 boundary still remains to be defined there, in accordance with 
 the necessities of our colonial policy. 
 
 As regards the Congo proper, it is clear that all its lower 
 course is comprised within our province of Angola, which, ex- 
 tending to the east as far as the country of the Yakkas and 
 Lunda, includes, as a matter of right, also part of the upper 
 course of the same river. Our boundary in that direction has 
 not hitherto been clearly defined. As we have not to deal in 
 this quarter, any more than in the north, with the claims of 
 civilized nations, such a definition can be brought about only 
 by agreement with native chiefs, or by the acknowledgment 
 by these chiefs of Portuguese sovereignty. 
 
 We will conclude in the words used by the Viscount de 
 Santarem when dealing with an analogous case : — " No nation 
 " possesses, or can possess, clearer rights to the possession of 
 " her colonies, of her conquests and of their dependencies, than 
 " those of the Crown of Portugal to the regions of which we 
 " are treating." Or we may employ, as did the Viscount de Sa 
 de Bandeira, the noble words of a great English statesman : — 
 " In the multiform and complex relations of modern Europe no 
 " statesman should dream of undermining those international 
 " rules which are founded on the accumulated experience of 
 " centuries, and which have been specially established for the 
 " protection of the weak against the despotic will of the 
 " strong." 
 
 Lisbon^ 2it/i December, 18S2. 
 
100 
 
 The African Committee of the Geographical Society of Lisbon. 
 
 Viscount de S. Januario, President 
 
 J. V. Barbosa du Bocage, Vice-President 
 
 A. A. DE Serpa Pinto 
 
 A. B. DAS Neves Ferreira 
 
 A. DO Nascimento Pereira Sampaio 
 
 A. Sarrea de Sousa Prado 
 
 AUGUSTO DE CaSTILHO 
 
 F. M. d' Almeida Pedroso 
 
 F. M. DE Sousa Viterbo 
 
 F. d'Oliveira Chamico, Vice-President 
 
 Francisco dos Santos 
 
 H. C. DE Brito Capello 
 
 J. B. Ferreira d' Almeida 
 
 M. PiNHEiRO Chagas, Vicc-Presideixt 
 
 M. Raphael G-orgao 
 
 Roberto Ivens 
 
 RoDRiGO Affonso Pequito, Secretary 
 
 Tito Augusto de Carvalho 
 
 Viscount de Soares Franco 
 
 Luciano Cordeiro, Recording Secretary. 
 
101 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Correspondence between the Lisbon Geographical Society and 
 THE International African Association. 
 
 I. 
 Luciano Cordeiro, Secretary of the Lisbon Geographical Society^ to 
 the Secretary of the International African Association. 
 
 Lisbon, 13th October, 1882. 
 Sir, — The discussion which has been provoked by the recent lectures 
 and letters of M. Savorgnan de Brazza, and by the character of certain 
 statements therein made, directly attacking the rights of Portugal, and 
 striking a blow at historical and geographical truths which have been 
 recognised and admitted for ages, compels the African Committee of our 
 Geographical Society to take up the question, and to adopt, as regards 
 this subject, a particular attitude, consonant with the interests and the 
 rights of the country that we have the honour to represent. 
 
 You are not, we feel sure, unaware that the parallels of 5° 12' and 18*^ S. 
 have for centuries constituted the boundaries of the Portuguese dominions 
 on the western coast of Africa, 
 
 You are also aware that the adhesion of the different countries to the 
 generous idea of his Majesty the King of the Belgians, for the creation 
 of the International African Association, has been given only in view of 
 the purelj' humanitarian and civilizing character of that idea, and of the 
 formal and absolute exclusion from it of everything of a political nature 
 or tendency. It is precisely this which constitutes the Society " interna- 
 tional," as a further proof of which character it has adopted a special 
 flag for its explorations. 
 
 In right therefore of the essential character of the information to us, 
 in view of the duties of our office, to enlighten the Geographical Society 
 at its approaching meeting, and to enable it to determine what line of 
 conduct it should adopt, I have the honour to request that you will be 
 
 / 
 
102 
 
 good enough, at your earliest convenience, to reply to the following 
 •questions : — 
 
 1° Are Messieurs Stanley and Savorgnan de Brazza to be con- 
 sidered as explorers of the International African Association, 
 and, as such, entirely subordinate to the strictly humanitarian 
 and i scientific character of that Association, to the absolute 
 exclusion of any particular intentions and of any political 
 representation or authority ? 
 2° Have these gentlemen been authorised by the International 
 Association, or with its knowledge and consent, to raise in 
 their expeditions or at their stations any national flag whatever, 
 or to arrange, in the name of any country, treaties or com- 
 pacts of a political nature ? 
 3*^ Does the International Association, which has declined to 
 accept either political character or authority, take the responsi- 
 bility of propagandas, manoeuvres, or intentions of this 
 nature on the part of its explorers in their relations with the 
 native tribes or with individual chiefs ? 
 "Trusting, in the interests of the cause which, so long as it maintains 
 its original generous idea, is common to us both, that you will excuse the 
 seeming importunity jof these questions, and relying on your speedy 
 reply. (Signed) L. COEDEIRO. 
 
 II. 
 
 M. Strauch, Secretary/ of the International African Association, to 
 the Secretary of the Lisbon Geographical Society. 
 
 Brussels, 25th October, 1882. 
 Sir, — I wish to reply without delay to the questions contained in your 
 letter of the 13th instant. 
 
 1^ As regards M. de Brazza, this Association understands that 
 Jhe has been intrusted with a mission by the French Com- 
 mittee of our Association, and has received certain subsidies 
 from the French ministry. Mr. Stanley is, on the contrary, 
 in the service of an international committee of research only, 
 his instructions being to establish on the Congo scientific and 
 shelter stations, and to furnish to the Committee information 
 on the resources of the region in question, with a view to the 
 interests of civilization and of progress. 
 
103 
 
 2© The flag of the Association floats, to the exclusion of all others, 
 over the stations created by Stanley. Belgium, as a state-, 
 does not desire in Africa either a province or an inch of 
 territory. 
 
 3^ The Society adheres to its statutes, as published, and sees 
 therein its only rule of conduct. 
 
 (Signed) Strauch. 
 
 3. The Secretary of the Lisbon Geographical Society, to the Secretary of 
 the International African Association. 
 
 Lisbon, Stii November, 1882. 
 
 Sir, — I have received your letter of the 25th October last, and beg to 
 thank you for the promptitude with which you have replied to the 
 questions which, in execution of the duties of my office, I had the honour 
 to put to you. 
 
 Our African Committee, to whom I yesterday communicated your 
 replies, are happy to learn that the African Society, presided over by 
 his Majesty the King of the Belgians, as well as the Committee of 
 Research of the Upper Congo, holds itself completely aloof from all 
 political motives, which without the cognizance and the sanction of 
 Portugal would be untenable, in the region of the Congo. Our Com- 
 mittee are glad, further, to know that the Society, faithful to its 
 exclusively humanitarian and scientific idea, neither lakes part in nor 
 shares the delicate responsibilities of certain schemes and plans opposed 
 alike to the law of nations and to the sovereignty of a friendly nation, 
 which, before any other, has had the glory, by its isolated efforts and by 
 its sacrifices, to open the gates of Africa to civilization, to science, and 
 to the commerce of the world, and which has ever since proved by 
 unremitting efforts that she has taken loyally to heart the further 
 execution of this task. 
 
 You will easily understand how agreeable it has been to us to see these 
 ideas confirmed, not so much on account of our incontestable rights, 
 which are confided to the care of our public authorities and to the 
 respect of friendly States, but chiefly because of our interest in the 
 cause which, so long as it remains within the just and legitimate bounds 
 of its original conception, is common to us all ; a cause which has every- 
 thing to lose if it permit itself to be invaded by political designs and 
 ambitions, threatening injury to Portuguese rights in the Congo and to 
 the north of that river. 
 
104 
 
 It was not that we doubted for an instant, when I was instructed to 
 put the questions forming the subject of my previous letter, the perfect 
 loyalty of the International Association and of its Executive Committee, 
 but, having learned from your former communications that Messrs. 
 Stanley and de Brazza were explorers of the Society, and had in that 
 capacity set out for Africa, and not doubting, moreover, that the Paris 
 Committee who had sent the last-named gentleman accepted as a funda- 
 mental principle that of the Association of which it formed an integral 
 part, we found ourselves naturally surprised and undecided in the 
 presence of a public opinion justly excited by the positively political 
 accentuation of the^conduct and the affirmations of the French explorer. 
 It was natural, then, that we should desire to know if it were the 
 explorer of the International Association or of its executive Committee, 
 who in this manner, and in consequence of unforeseen circumstances, 
 believed himself authorised to subvert the character and the mission of 
 the Association. Your letter. Sir, proves what we had already done you 
 the justice to suppose, that it was not the International Association 
 which had arbitrarily altered a state of things perfectly just and 
 practical, and replaced it by another which it is henceforward impossible 
 for us to accept, and with respect to which we can only make all 
 necessary reservations of opinion and as to our mode of action. 
 
 From the moment that the question takes this shape it is our duty to 
 remember that the boundary of Portuguese dominion in Western Africa 
 to the south of the Equator is, on the coast the parallel of 5^ 12', and 
 that, in the interior, Portugal only can limit her frontier, either by 
 agreements with the native chiefs or by imposing upon them her 
 dominion, since, in these lands, she finds herself in juxtaposition with no 
 civilized nation possessed of territorial rights. In both directions her 
 rights proceed naturally from principles consecrated by international law, 
 and from a series of facts successively established or corroborated by 
 these principles, of which not one was new and to which not one was 
 contrary. 
 
 I have written at greater length on the present occasion as a sort of 
 apology, so to speak, for the seeming curtness forced upon me by the 
 urgency of the circumstances which called forth my previous letter. 
 
 (Signed) L. CORDEIRO. 
 
o\dV^ 
 
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